PMQs LIVE: Keir Starmer faces Commons amid £5bn defence black gap considerations for Andy Burnham

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson writes in…

Keir Starmer is facing intense pressure over a £4.7billion funding gap in the defence investment plan.

The long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (Dip) leaves a headache for Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham as the small print revealed £4.7bn – almost a third of the £15bn pot – will need to be funded in the Budget. It is understood that Mr Burnham was not told about the black hole when he was briefed on the plans, which experts said could force him to consider tax rises, more borrowing or spending cuts.

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard this morning defended the £4.7bn black hole in the plan to raise defence spending as “not unusual”.

Mr Pollard told Times Radio: “The £15billion extra spending power that we now have with the Treasury set out how £10billion or so of that will be spent by asking other departments to cut their capital funding by 1p in the pound and transfer that money to defence. £4.7billion will be set out at the autumn budget, and that’s not unusual for governments to do.”

He said the just over £1 billion extra a year needed would come from the Treasury’s financial headroom “or any other measures that they seek to do in making spending decisions”, saying it was “standard practice”.

He also admitted that the defence investment plan unveiled on Tuesday delayed improvements to housing for armed forces families. “A small amount of the money in the defence housing budget has been moved into the next parliament so we could prioritise the military readiness for our forces now. That was the right tough decision that we’ve taken.”