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‘Defence black hole’ and ‘Starmer’s gift to Burnham’

1 July 2026, 01:02 BST

Updated 3 hours ago

"Starmer puts Burnham in £5bn defence black hole" reads the headline on the front page of the Times.

"PM still puts welfare ahead of defence boost" reads the headline on the front page of the Daily Express.

"Indefensible" reads the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail.

"Britain needs you... to queue" reads the headline on thef ront page of the Metro.

"Starmer puts Burnham in £5bn defence black hole" reads the headline on the front page of the Telegraph.

"PM's defence funding plan leaves Burnham with £5bn hole to plug" reads the headline on the front page of the Guardian.

"Europe's rearmamaent is sustaining 195,000 US defence jobs, Rutte says" reads the headline on the front page of the Financial Times.

"Same gold Farage" reads the headline on the front page of the Daily Mirror.

"We are the Lions that roar" reads the headline on the front page of the Sun.

"Dr Congno Jude: I'd love to play 007" reads the headline on the front page of the Daily Star.

“Starmer’s gift to Burnham”, external, is what The i Paper calls the £4.7bn pound black hole in the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

An ally of Andy Burnham is quoted in the Guardian likening the situation to an “unexploded bomb, external” – but sources say the Makerfield MP will not try to renegotiate the plan if he enters No 10.

“Indefensible, external” is the Daily Mail headline, with the paper accusing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of having “passed the buck” to Burnham.

The Times claims Burnham may now have to raise taxes or cut spending, external in his hypothetical first budget. The paper quotes the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, who says it’s “striking” the money has not been found.

In the Daily Express, external, the campaign group, Migration Watch UK, suggests the money could be available “at the stroke of a pen” if £5bn worth of immigration grants were axed.

The Metro, external leads on what it calls the “collateral damage” from the defence plan after the prime minister said road projects would have to be delayed or scrapped. The paper’s headline alludes to the famous World War One recruitment campaign. “Britain needs you…”, it says, “to queue”.

The Daily Mirror reports that the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, earned £270,000 for doing just 12 hours work as a brand ambassador for a gold bullion dealer, external. “Same gold Farage” is the paper’s headline, as it points out the figure is nearly eight times the average salary in his constituency of Clacton. A spokesperson for Farage said his work for Direct Bullion “has previously been declared”.

Pictures of Serena Williams on her Wimbledon comeback make the front and back pages. The Daily Telegraph, external shows her waving to the centre court crowd. “Serena falls at first hurdle” declares the Times, external, while the Guardian, external says there was “no fairytale”.

And the Daily Star reports that Britain’s oldest curry house, Veeraswamy on Regent Street in London, is working on a plan to stay open despite fears it could be closed forever. “Curry on, external” is the message from the Star’s editorial, urging all those involved to “keep korma for now”.