Labour are sending an outgoing Prime Minister, now completely powerless, to the NATO summit with a Defence Investment Plan he knows is not fit for purpose.
Reform are no better. They do not have a defence spokesperson and are distracted by constant scandals.
Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to rebuild Britain's Defences.
Watch Kemi explain how👇:
Read Kemi's full speech here:
Today, Keir Starmer will head off to the most important NATO summit in a generation.
Britain has received intelligence that Russia could launch an attack on NATO as soon as 2030.
This could put us in direct conflict with the world’s biggest nuclear state.
We could not be facing a more serious situation, and our politics should be reflecting the gravity of this moment.
Every single party in Westminster should be talking about our national security.
Instead, we have the opposite.
Just at a time when Britain needs focus, Westminster has never been more distracted.
We are sending an outgoing Prime Minister to that NATO summit who is completely powerless, and he is taking with him a Defence Investment Plan which he knows is not fit for purpose, with barely half of the additional funding that our Armed Forces need.
So little, that the former Defence Secretary quit the Government because he believed the plans would put British troops in danger.
Are we really supposed to pretend that did not happen?
I bet you have not forgotten, have you?
No, no.
Then it transpired that the small amount of money that had been announced was not even funded.
Keir Starmer has left a £5 billion black hole for his successor.
He stands up at PMQs and tells us everything is going fine, that Britain’s Armed Forces have never had it so good, and then Labour MPs cheer, but we all know they are not really listening.
They have not realised the problems with the Defence Investment Plan have not gone away just because Andy Burnham is riding to their rescue.
And have you actually heard Andy Burnham say anything about the threats we face?
Have you heard him say anything about the threats that we face?
Last week, the RAF intercepted a Russian warplane.
It was dropping sonar devices right next to a British aircraft carrier.
What did Andy Burnham say?
Nothing.
Our undersea cables are already under constant attack.
The next Russian assault on them could knock out the internet across the United Kingdom.
What has Andy Burnham said about that?
Nothing.
He said nothing.
Defence of this country should be his number one priority, but he says he wants to spend less time on foreign affairs.
Meanwhile, Reform are demanding a general election.
They might be ready for campaigning, but they are not ready for government.
They have not even bothered to appoint a defence spokesman.
They are completely distracted by their constant scandals and personal dramas.
They think immigration is the only national security issue.
They blame NATO for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Can you believe that?
Their former leader in Wales is in prison for taking bribes from Russia.
And do not get me started on the Greens, who think NATO should be abolished.
Have you heard of anything so ridiculous?
I do not think Vladimir Putin is going to be worried about Nigel Farage, and I do not think he is going to be worried about Andy Burnham either.
Putin does not care how nationalised your buses are, and he does not care whether No. 10 is in Manchester or London.
What Vladimir Putin is interested in is whether Britain can defend herself or not.
At a time when we need serious leadership, there is only one party acting with any common sense.
There is only one party with a plan to keep Britain safe, and that is the Conservatives.
Why is no other party supporting our plan to fund Britain’s defence?
It is because they do not understand the threats we face, and they are not interested either.
They are not worried about Chinese spies.
They are not worried about Russian aggression.
They want us to spend less time thinking about Iran, which is threatening our oil supplies.
Well, I am worried about national security, and that is why my team and I are coming up with the plans to keep this country safe.
During an era of peace, defence spending went down as Britain focused on other priorities.
We are no longer living in an era of peace.
The threat level has changed, and it is time for us to respond.
Conservatives want Britain to fund defence properly.
So we have worked up a plan to save billions on welfare and spend that money on defence instead.
And yes, that does mean making some tough choices.
Politicians are here to make the tough choices, but Labour MPs do not want to make those tough choices.
And I think that is because they are not really Labour MPs.
Do you think they are Labour MPs?
No?
I do not think they are Labour MPs.
They are welfare MPs.
They are welfare MPs.
That is all they care about.
It is all they care about.
MPs who go around talking about who they can tax to pay for more benefits.
And I know that Andy Burnham will not have the votes for the tough choices.
He may have a big majority, but he does not have the votes for tough choices.
And I have already offered to work with Labour on this, and so I will reiterate my offer to the incoming Prime Minister, whether it is Andy Burnham or maybe even Al Carns.
He is not telling us what he is doing.
But Andy Burnham, who is most likely, says he wants to do politics differently.
So let us do it.
And I say to him, work with us and let us agree a plan to cut welfare and fund defence.
Sadly, I suspect that, like Keir Starmer, he is not going to take me up on this offer.
But Britain cannot be put in danger.
It cannot be put in danger because of self-interested Labour MPs blind to what everyone can see needs to be done.
Everyone, including the former Labour Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, and former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, agrees with us because this is common sense.
Conservatives want our Government to prioritise our national interest.
That is why we spent months working to kill Keir Starmer’s terrible Chagos deal.
Apparently, Andy Burnham wants to bring it back.
It is a shame.
What is it about a plan to hand over British sovereign territory and pay £35 billion for the privilege that Labour loves so much?
What is it about that plan?
That is £35 billion that we could be using to fund our defence instead.
Who seriously thinks this is a good idea?
It is disgraceful.
Thank you, Victoria.
It is extremely disgraceful.
So nobody thinks it is a good idea because it is a terrible idea.
And it is not just funding for defence that we care about.
How about the treatment of our soldiers?
The Conservative Party supports our brave veterans.
Unlike Labour, we do not want to see them hounded unfairly through the courts.
That is why we will continue fighting the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill at every stage.
Conservatives want Britain to have a strong economy, because we know that economic security is national security.
Britain is being crushed under the highest tax burden since the Second World War.
Common sense would cut that tax burden, not double down on the £60 billion of tax rises inflicted by Rachel Reeves on the public in just two years.
Tax rises that have obliterated jobs and growth, and made it even harder for us to fund our defence.
Has Andy Burnham’s team got any common sense?
I have not seen any sight of it yet.
It does not seem that you have either.
Because they are briefing papers about raising capital gains tax and creating a new land value tax.
A tax that would take more money from millions of people already struggling to get by.
Andy Burnham’s big idea is to tax the south to fund the north.
It is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
We want to look after everyone.
Burnham says there is room for movement on tax.
I have no idea where he sees this room for movement, but it is not in the real world.
Britain is in the middle of a World Cup summer.
There is another heatwave on.
People are having fun, watching the football and going to the pub, and quite right too.
We should be able to enjoy ourselves.
We should be.
But we should be able to enjoy ourselves safe in the knowledge that our national security is being taken care of by the Government.
But it is not.
Burnham wants a summer holiday.
Farage is in hiding.
Starmer is retiring.
Right at the time.
It is good, yes, it is good that he is retiring.
Thanks, Andrew, for reminding me of that.
He is retiring, but all of this is happening right at the time when difficult decisions need to be made.
Silly season is not for the people running the country.
Britain needs some grown-ups in the room, but there do not appear to be any outside the Conservative Party.
No one else seems to want to do the hard work of government.
No one else wants to make the tough choices this country needs.
Well luckily, we do want to do that work and we do want to take those choices.
Conservatives are a government in waiting and we are ready to make the difficult decisions to keep our country safe.
We are the only serious party in British politics right now, with a team and a plan to restore national security as the first priority of government.
So I say to you, we will cut welfare and fund defence.
We will restore common sense.
We will get Britain working again.
And we will unite our country.
