Andy Burnham will 'find it easier to talk about cutting welfare than actually do it,' says Diane Abbott noting 'billions' wasted on defence
"We have to look at society as a whole. We have to look at the type of society we want," she said
Andy Burnham will 'find it easier to talk about cutting welfare than actually doing it' if he becomes Prime Minister, Diane Abbott has insisted, flagging billions of pounds of waste when it comes to defence spending.
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The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington told LBC's Ben Kentish that she is "a little disappointed" that the Mayor for Greater Manchester has said he will look at slashing welfare spending.
She added that when he has to specify what he's actually going to cut, he will find it a lot harder.
After the resignation of defence secretary John Healey and armed forces minister Al Carns over the long-delayed defence investment plan (Dip), Mr Burnham said “the world has changed” and it was “obvious” the Government would have to adjust its assumptions about defence spending in response.
The Greater Manchester Mayor, who hopes to return to Westminster in next week’s Makerfield by-election, and has made no secret of his Labour leadership ambitions, said his plan would be to free up money for defence from welfare.
Read more: Continuing with this defence plan would be a dangerous mistake
“I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill,” he told The Times.
Ms Abbott told LBC: "I think he'll find that when he actually starts to specify what he's going to cut - is it the elderly, is it disabled - I think he'll find it's easier to talk about cutting welfare, not so easy to actually do it.
"We have to look at society as a whole. We have to look at the type of society we want.
"I'm not saying that there aren't ways of narrowing the amount of money we spend on welfare, but the main way of doing that is what Andy Burnham said, putting people back to work."
Mr Burnham has said he would favour a ten-year approach to defence and security as well as public investment and procurement.
This would mean having a measurable commitment to “social value”, such as work placements and apprenticeships for young people, under all public procurement.
He would want defence spending to provide “maximum social return” in terms of apprenticeships and support for British industry and jobs.
Ms Abbott, in contrast, said that while Westminster is generally in favour of using welfare cuts to fund defence, the general public does not necessarily feel the same way when faced with a choice between cuts to education, the NHS, or other essential public services.
She added that "politicians have to make choices" and that we already spend a lot on defence, but a "huge amount" of the budget is wasteful spending.
"I think we should look at the way the whole defence budget is managed," she told Ben Kentish.
"Huge amounts of waste, billions of pounds...in relation to the defence budget. Waste and poor procurement. Let's look at that first before we talk about cutting the NHS.
"Military experts always want more money spent on armaments and bombs. Politicians have to make choices. We already spend a lot of money on defence.
"Of course, generals and people that work for the defence industry and defence lobbyists want to spend more money on defence.
"What we have to make a choice on is how are we going to protect the vulnerable so that generals and former generals can have the latest in armaments or nuclear