Kemi Badenoch humiliates Andy Burnham with one simple question_D

The Conservatives have jumped on Andy Burnham’s refusal to say he will cut welfare to fund warfare.

The UK will be “relentless” in defending Falkland Islanders’ right to be British, the Prime Minister has said.

Andy Burnham was responding to Kemi Badenoch, who said the Argentina was threatening the Falklands due to Britain appearing weak on the Chagos Islands.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, she said: “It is no wonder that Argentina is now threatening the Falklands. We need to project strength, we need to show that British sovereign territory is non-negotiable.”

Mr Burnham said: “We will not surrender our base at Diego Garcia. We are in discussions with the United States about that, we will always respect the rights of the Falkland Islanders to choose to be British.

“That will never change under this Government, and we will be relentless in defending that.”

Andy Burnham has refused to bring down the welfare bill to fund defence, with the Conservative Party branding the move “shameful”.

Speaking at PMQ’s Mr Burnham faced mounting pressure to explain exactly how he would meet the UKs NATO commitment, but wanted that national security “can’t come at the expense of social security.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Britain heard it loud and clear today: Andy Burnham will not cut welfare to fund the defence of our country. The Prime Minister is prioritising the ballooning benefits bill over our national security. Shameful.”

They added: “This is not leadership, it is surrender. Worse still, it’s exactly what has come before. Burnham really is nothing more than Continuity Keir.”

Kemi opened up PMQs with questions on defence.

Other countries can “smell weakness” since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, says Kemi Badenoch as she brands Mr Burnham “continuity Keir.”

Mr Burnham ignores the question about the Chagos deal, or about how he will fund the defence bill, and instead talks about yesterday’s sanctions announcement.

“He doesn’t know where he is going to find the money,” Kemi Badenoch says, after Andy Burnham refused to say where he would get the cash from to fund the army.

Mr Burnham has accused Mrs Badenoch of wanting to increase homelessness and rough sleeping, something which increased when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester.

“Unbelieveable,” says Mrs Badenoch as she suggests the country should not spend “all of our money on welfare.”

She has previously hit out at previous spending commitments by the Labour Party, branding them the “welfare party”.

Mrs Badenoch repeats her claim that less should be spent on welfare in favour of increasing defence funding as she demands Mr Burnham tell the house exactly where the cash for the armed forces will come from.

Kemi Badenoch adds that John Healey was right to resign over Sir Keir Starmer‘s inability to commit to meeting our defence commitments.

However Andy Burnham confirms that “this Chancellor […] will be willing” to provide the funding.

Mr Burnham asks for an “honest conversation” across the despatch box, attacking Mrs Badenoch’s plan to fund defence by cutting welfare spending.

Kemi Badenoch begins PMQs by saying that “the country was thrown into confusion […] over whether the Prime Minister was going to fund defence,” last week.

Mrs Badenoch references that the new Chancellor resigned as Defence Secretary under the previous government over the funding disagreements.

When asked if Mr Healey was right to resign, Mr Burnham said that he didn’t feel Mrs Badenoch had a “right” to “claim the moral high ground” after her party’s record.

He accused his rivals of “point scoring”.

Andy Burnham kicks off PMQs with a tribute to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terror attacks, the anniversary of which takes place soon.

Lillian Jones (LAB)

Sarah Hall (LAB)

Connor Naismith (LAB)

Wera Hobhouse (LIB)

Siobhain McDonagh (LAB)

Lauren Sullivan (LAB)

Alberto Costa (CON)

Kim Johnson (LAB)

Liz Saville Roberts (PC)

Ian Lavery (LAB)

Chris Law (SNP)

Daisy Cooper (LIB)

Laura Kyrke-Smith (LAB)

Cat Eccles (LAB)

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said he was “proud” that Green MPs had been “staunch in their standing up for peace”, following an announcement that they would be banned from entering Israel.

He said: “I’m proud that all of our Green MPs have been staunch in their standing up for peace, standing up for peace in the region for both Israelis and Palestinians, and have also supported Jewish communities in the UK.

“And so to see the Israeli government ban them, I think is not something we’re particularly concerned about. They’re doing the right thing.”

They warn ‘Tax rises are coming.’

Ed Miliband said he “regrets” Israel’s response to a ban on trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank, but insisted it was “the right thing to do”.

The Foreign Secretary’s announcement of the ban triggered a diplomatic row, with Israel closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banning 11 MPs and a campaigner from the country.

Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Mr Miliband said: “I regret what the Israeli government has announced, but I’m proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do.”

Labour peer and former chair of Labour Friends of Israel Lord McCabe criticized Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s latest measures against Israel, describing the timing as “rash” and warning that it puts vital security and commercial ties at risk.

He said: “I think the timing is really strange. I think it’s a rash move. I don’t see the value of it at all before the Israeli elections. I don’t see why it’s just before the Jewish New Year. I think it’s playing right into the hands of those who want a boycott with Israel.

“The moves that the British government is taking are highly unlikely to advance a two state solution and could lead to a complete breakdown of relations with one of our best allies in the Middle East.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned air traffic control bosses for a grilling following huge disruption on Tuesday.

The UK’s main air traffic control provider said widespread disruption to flights was not caused by a cyber attack.

Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said 1,300 flights had been cancelled to and from UK airports on Tuesday after a system issue hit Nats, the National Air Traffic Service, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.

Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in the chaos, which continued on Wednesday with cancellations and delays expected as airlines deal with the knock-on impacts at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.

Nats’ chief executive officer Martin Rolfe told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “We will be doing a very, very thorough and full investigation.

“We have at this point ruled out cyber. We don’t believe it was a cyber attack.”

Labour’s announcement of sanctions against settler communities in the West Bank risks a rise in sectarian violence in the United Kingdom, it has been claimed. It comes following an announcement by the Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who accused the Israeli Government of having “turned a blind eye” to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Mr Miliband also announced a series of sanctions against settler communities, which would hit the import of goods to the UK. In a change in government position Mr Miliband also told MPs that the “settlements are illegal” before announcing a ban on their products being advertised.

But Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary Tom Tugendhat MP said that the announcements risked making Israel a “pariah state”. Speaking to MPs, he added that doing so “will risk sectarian tension in our country and risk a further rise in anti-semitic violence on our own streets”.

Ed Miliband has said the Americans can “speak for themselves” after Donald Trump did not yet respond to UK sanctions.

He told Sky News: “I’ll let our American friends speak for themselves. We obviously talked to them in advance of our announcement.

“You know, I think the whole international community has been quite frustrated, to put it mildly, with some of the actions of the Israeli government.

“I will let them say what they feel, but I think there is real concern about what is happening.

“And it’s this point that underlying so many of the conflicts in the Middle East, is this failure to really grasp the situation between Israel and Palestine, and this is why it’s in our interest to act.”

Ed Miliband said he disagreed with the chief rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis ‘s criticism of a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “I’m a proud British Jew and I don’t agree with the chief rabbi.

“I have great respect for the chief rabbi, but I don’t agree with him.

“And I believe that it must be possible to do what we did yesterday, which is to stand up for British values of the rule of law, of dignity for people, of the prevention of injustice, and do so in a way, as I did yesterday, to say to anyone in our country who holds British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government: that is anti-Semitism, pure and simple.

“And we all need to do more to tackle antisemitism. But I believe we can do that and stand up for British values.”

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said he “regrets” Israel’s response to his announcement on sanctions, but is “proud” of his actions.

When asked for his response to the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem, the Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “I regret what the Israeli government has announced, but I’m proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do.”

He said: “It will be damaging, that’s true, but we weighed up the costs and the benefits in advance of this.

“And we did something very important. We talked to the representatives of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prime minister, the representative here, and they both said to us with a very clear voice, you need to act from our point of view.”

He added: “I would prefer that Israel hadn’t announced what it did, but overall, I strongly believe that what we did, along with other international allies, was absolutely the right thing to do.”