Badenoch slams PM for failing to fund armed forces amid rising Russian aggression

Kemi Badenoch has accused Prime Minister Andy Burnham of “fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning,” as Russia intensifies what she described as a hybrid war against the West.

The Conservative Party leader said the government should not “dither and delay,” calling for “proper” funding of defence and urging Burnham to “get serious” instead of acting as though Britain was living in a “carefree” world.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Badenoch’s intervention follows warnings from European leaders this week that Vladimir Putin is accelerating hybrid warfare against Ukraine’s allies through drone incursions, cyber attacks, propaganda and missile threats.

She has pledged to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 by cutting welfare costs, including reforming housing benefits and reinstating the two-child benefit cap. Badenoch said Burnham’s refusal to cut welfare to fund defence sent a “dangerous message” heard “loud and clear in Moscow as well as Manchester.”

Her comments were echoed by former military chiefs, including Admiral Lord West and Lord Dannatt, who warned that Britain’s defences remain in a “parlous state” and accused Burnham and Chancellor John Healey of “playing fast and loose with the nation’s security.”