Kemi Badenoch renews call to cut welfare for defence

Kemi Badenoch attacks UK welfare spending in a defence funding row, opposition leader says cuts should pay for higher military budgets, government warns of homelessness if benefits are capped

Kemi Badenoch has escalated a familiar Westminster argument into a single trade-off: either the UK trims welfare or it cannot afford to rearm. In comments reported by The Guardian and the Evening Standard, the Conservative leader accused Prime Minister Andy Burnham of “fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning” and said Britain must fund defence “properly” as Russia tests European resolve.

The immediate political target is Burnham’s refusal to cut welfare to pay for defence. Badenoch framed that stance as a message “heard in Moscow and Manchester”, while Burnham has argued that national security cannot come at the expense of social security. Downing Street, according to the Standard, says it is committed both to funding the military and reducing the benefits bill, but not through “crude cuts”.

Behind the rhetoric sits a timetable problem. Britain has pledged to reach 3.5% of national income for defence by 2035, in line with a Nato commitment, and the government has budgeted an increase to 2.7% of GDP by 2027–28, the Standard reports. That leaves a large gap after 2027–28 where the costs are real but the funding plan is not, and the chancellor faces pressure to set out a path before the next budget.

Badenoch’s proposed solution is to pre-allocate savings from welfare to the armed forces. The Conservatives have floated capping housing benefit to raise £4 billion for defence, with party figures rejecting claims it would cause homelessness while conceding some recipients might have to “move somewhere cheaper”, according to the Standard. The prime minister has countered that this approach would create “unprecedented levels of homelessness”, turning an abstract spending target into a dispute over who absorbs the shock: taxpayers, benefit recipients, or other departments.

Former military chiefs have supplied the atmosphere of urgency. Admiral Lord West, a former First Sea Lord, said Britain’s military is in a “quite parlous state” and described a “grey zone” of conflict involving cyber-attacks, drones and threats to underwater cables, the reports say. Lord Dannatt, a former head of the army, urged the chancellor to spell out how the country reaches 3.5% and accused Burnham and John Healey of “playing fast and loose with the nation’s security”.

The government’s public line is that it has already responded to hostile Russian activity with expulsions, sanctions and action against illicit finance networks, the Standard reports, while continuing to support Ukraine. Badenoch’s line is that France and Poland are “taking action” and Britain is not.

The Conservatives will hold their annual conference in Birmingham in two weeks, with a welfare cap now being sold as a defence policy. The government still has a defence spending pledge for 2035 and a budget plan only through 2027–28.