“Without offense”: a caricature showing outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer handing his alleged successor Andy Burnham a grenade without a pin with the caption “Defence funding,” published by The Guardian.

📋 The new head of government will have to tackle the problem of a multi-billion-pound deficit in the defence budget. Burnham himself learned about the “gap” in the defence budget of 4.7 billion pounds sterling (about $6.2 billion) only after the relevant document was published on 30 June.

The document provides for nearly 300 billion pounds in defence spending, but, as the finance minister Rachel Reeves previously said, the source for covering the additional 4.7 billion pounds will be determined only when preparing the autumn budget.

According to Independent, Burnham does not yet know what exactly the future head of government will have to look for to cover this shortfall.

❗️ On 22 June, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had decided to leave his post. He clarified that he will continue to hold it until a successor is elected. The elections are expected to end by 17 July, and the new prime minister is expected to take office on 20 July.

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