Andy Burnham's first job must be to find enough money to truly prepare Armed Forces for war with Russia

A fire rages in the historic Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv following a Russian missile strike last month (Picture: Genya Savilov) | AFP via Getty Images

Ahead of the Nato summit in Turkey, the alliance’s Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, told member states to put forward “clear, concrete and credible plans” to increase defence spending to agreed levels, adding that “if one or two still have to be convinced, we have ways to do that”.

Many in Western countries still appear to regard the war in Ukraine as a far-off conflict that poses little real threat to them. However, this is very much not the view of Nato allies like Poland, Norway and the Baltic states – all share a border with Russia and all spent more on defence as a share of GDP than the US last year. In those countries, they are preparing for the worst.

According to Keir Starmer, extra defence spending of £15 billion over four years will ensure the UK is ready for the feared war with Russia by 2030. However, this is not much more than the £13.5bn sum which prompted Defence Secretary John Healey to resign and well short of the £28bn reportedly sought by the military.

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Labour’s warm words

This has to be the first issue on Andy Burnham’s desk. Finding enough money to persuade Healey to return to his post would be an obvious way to secure an early win for his new government. It would also demonstrate that Labour’s warm words about defence are actually going to be backed with the necessary funds.

Putin’s hostile intentions to the UK were underlined when a Russian plane “repeatedly approached” the UK’s Carrier Strike Group in the Arctic last week and dropped a series of buoys into the water near the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner.

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After a bloody few days in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian ballistic missiles had been getting through because of a lack of air-defence capabilities. “As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings,” he said.

Nato must urgently provide Zelensky with what he needs to save lives – and face up to the very real danger that this war is about to head in our direction.