Minister calls on Burnham to show path to 3.5% target on UK defence spending

The brief

The new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, has called on Andy Burnham to increase defence spending dramatically from 2030 and “evidence the trajectory” towards a Nato target that would mean £25bn a year more for the military by the middle of the next decade. The former paratrooper said he was confident that the prime minister-in-waiting valued national security, as he openly lobbied him for cash that would probably have to come from cuts elsewhere. “What I absolutely will want to see is that in the next spending review we commit the resources to evidence the trajectory to 3.5% [of GDP],” Jarvis said, speaking before the annual Nato summit gets under way…