The prime ministerial hopeful says he wants to cut welfare to pay for defence – but he is unlikely to succeed where Keir Starmer failed, writes John Rentoul A s soon as John Healey resigned as defence secretary , the conventional view was that the government should cut welfare to pay for higher defence spending . Lo and behold, Andy Burnham said: “I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill.” It is the next bit of the would-be prime minister’s plan that is