Andy Burnham vows to rebuild UK's 'hard power' with billions to British defence firms

Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham has vowed to rebuild the UK's "hard power" by allocating billions of extra defence spending to British firms. Mr Burnham, in his first foreign policy intervention, wants to steer defence procurement away from European and American companies and boost homegrown firms. He said he wanted to "level with" the public about the amount of money required to meet the UK's promise to Nato to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035. The additional money, Mr Burnham has said, will be ploughed into "regenerating and reindustrialising the country", with efforts to boost British jobs and workers. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say The Makerfield MP said reducing foreign reliance was "critical for both our...

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