stated<\/a> that he wants investments to be channeled into \u201creinvigorating and industrializing the country,\u201d supporting British jobs and British workers, rather than relying on equipment purchased from other nations.<\/p>\nBurnham argued that the UK must reduce its foreign dependence, adding that this is \u201cvital for both our economic and national security\u201d and declaring that the issue would be a central priority during his premiership.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, while committing to closer relations with European countries on defense and security\u2014specifically France and Germany\u2014he promised to accelerate broader negotiations with the EU on economic security and combating \u201cillegal migration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnham indicated that his government would continue to support international law and international institutions such as the UN.<\/p>\n
The former Mayor of Greater Manchester said that \u201cthe global picture is growing increasingly dark\u201d and that this uncertainty is hitting ordinary households, \u201crevealing fundamental vulnerabilities in our society and our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnham made the statement as outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with other NATO leaders, including Donald Trump, at a summit in Ankara.<\/p>\n
Burnham said the UK must \u201cgo further than ever before\u201d by implementing a defense investment plan that commits the government to raising defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, up from the current level of 2.56%.<\/p>\n
Burnham said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a correct step to rebuild our hard power for a new era that is very different from when much of our current military equipment was first designed. Most importantly, in doing so, I want to ensure we are supporting British workers and businesses. This means we must go much further than ever before to support British resilience through the defense investment plan; we must use the sustainable increase in defense investment not only to provide the equipment our armed forces need, but also to generate economic growth and create apprenticeship programs and jobs in communities where opportunities have diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that they would focus on \u201creducing foreign dependence, securing inward investment, and establishing new industrial partnerships with our allies,\u201d Burnham declared that reindustrialization through defense and other sectors is \u201cvital\u201d for both economic and national security, \u201cenhancing resilience everywhere,\u201d and would be a fundamental priority for him.<\/p>\n
Burnham stated that he wanted to be \u201cmore open\u201d with the public regarding how defense spending is allocated, saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see more detailed and publicly available progress reports containing greater transparency and accountability, so that we can tackle cost overruns or delays before they spin out of control. Our increased investments must be paired with increased scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnham also confirmed that Jonathan Powell would continue in his role as national security adviser, adding that he wanted to have \u201cthe best and most experienced advisers on national security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham has pledged to rebuild the United Kingdom\u2019s \u201chard power\u201d by ensuring that billions of pounds in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,41365,41366,38325,11817,586,41367,8644,5046,41368,41369,37661,4695,41370,691,10796,41371,41372],"class_list":["post-122679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-commercial-banks","tag-defense-bank","tag-defense-industry","tag-defense-procurement","tag-europe","tag-financial-guarantees","tag-greece","tag-italy","tag-joint-procurement","tag-luc-frieden","tag-luxembourg","tag-military-spending","tag-multilateral-lending","tag-nato","tag-public-finance","tag-security-funding","tag-sovereign-lending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}