See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAILY MAIL COMMENT Published: 00:27 BST, 10 September 2026 | Updated: 01:23 BST, 10 September 2026
Andy Burnham has finally let the mask slip. For the first seven weeks of his premiership, he ducked and dived every time he was challenged about the Government's spending plans for defence and welfare.But he came uncharacteristically close to delivering a straight answer in the Commons yesterday when he signalled his unwillingness to increase the military budget by cutting 'social security'.By refusing 'to choose between the two', the Prime Minister gives a clear indication of his priorities. He fails to accept that his fundamental responsibility is protecting all British citizens rather than mollycoddling a significant minority with a never-ending diet of handouts.The PM expects us to buy into the myth that reducing the welfare bill will consign vast swathes of the population to Dickensian levels of hardship. Yet the reality is that Labour's ballooning benefits culture is condemning an entire generation to a lifetime of indolence and dependence.Nor should he need it spelled out in block capitals that our defence capabilities could hardly be more important as the threatening noises from Russia - and other quarters - grow louder.But Mr Burnham knows this already. He is also fully aware that the Tories have produced a costed plan that would allow the oft-cited target on defence spending - 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 - to be met largely through prudent and reasonable welfare adjustments. Andy Burnham came uncharacteristically close to delivering a straight answer in the Commons yesterday when he signalled his unwillingness to increase the military budget by cutting 'social security'None of it seems to interest the PM to any great degree. He instead appears intent on parroting his commitment to an entirely different Nato goal with a faraway deadline of 2035.His dangerously casual approach to the nation's defences could come back to haunt him long before then. And the new leader of the Welfare Party could well live to regret nailing his colours to the 'social security' mast even sooner.Not so high fliersIt is inexcusable that tens of thousands more airline passengers had their plans disrupted on a second day of travel chaos – and still there is no end in sight.But it is even more profoundly depressing that National Air Traffic Services (NATS) chief executive Martin Rolfe has been given a vote of confidence by the Burnham administration.To say Mr Rolfe - who has overall responsibility for Britain's air-traffic control system - has a patchy track record would be an understatement. He was in charge when a computer crash forced the closure of the nation's entire airspace during the August Bank Holiday three years ago.Even he probably would have understood if he'd been handed his P45 on this occasion. Yet it appears he has received no more than a ministerial ticking-off and strict instructions to sort out the entire mess as quickly as possible.It is a familiar pattern. Where it is ordinary taxpayers affected by gross incompetence, the consequences for those responsible are often few and far between.Remember how the disgraced Paula Vennells managed to hang on as chief executive of the Post Office at the height of the Horizon IT scandal.Rewarding failure - or at least turning a blind eye to it - should never be the answer. Only when the powers-that-be start ordering inefficient executives to clear their desks will we see the accountability we deserve.
