“A vision without a plan is a dream.” That was Al Carns’s verdict on what he wants from Andy Burnham before deciding whether to stand against him for the Labour leadership.
Carns, the Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak and a former defence minister, said a major economics speech from Burnham will help him make up his mind. He told BBC Politics Midlands he hoped to hear “really clear and concise outcomes” for where Burnham sees the country over the next decade. “I’m not going to start jumping up and down until I’ve had a look,” he said.
What he wants to hear
Carns laid out a rough test. “What I would like to see is where do we want to be by 2029 and where do we want to be by 2034-35,” he said. He floated some possible goals: the healthiest nation in Europe, a trillion pounds added to GDP, a better deal for the next generation than the last. Then, he said, there must be a plan to deliver them. “It doesn’t need to be the detail but it needs to be there.”
Defence is one of the “key factors” he will be listening for. “It’s much broader than just defence, bombs, bullets and battleships, it’s actually about national resilience,” he said.
He rejected the idea of paying for defence out of welfare. “I think the premise of the question is welfare over warfare – a pound off a nurse to give it to a soldier? And I just don’t agree with that premise,” Carns said. He argued instead for a broader strategy across government departments to make them more productive and “shave 10% off”.
The field around Burnham
Wes Streeting and Darren Jones have already decided not to run against Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, as momentum in the party grows behind him. Carns, who resigned as Armed Forces Minister earlier this month over concerns about the defence budget, has not made that decision.
He would need nominations from 81 Labour MPs to take part in a contest, plus endorsements from affiliates such as trade unions.
The government is expected to publish its Defence Investment Plan ahead of a Nato summit on 7 July, despite the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer. Opposition parties had their own views on how to pay for it. Conservative MP Neil Shastri-Hurst said the money “should come from the welfare state”, and his party would reintroduce the two-child benefit cap. Reform UK’s Dawn Husemann, a Shropshire councillor, said her party has committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035, “a floor not a ceiling”.
Sources
- Birmingham MP Al Carns not ruling out Labour leadership yet
- Birmingham MP Al Carns not ruling out Labour leadership yet
