Formuojant naują Vyriausybę, paskirtasis premjeras ir Lietuvos socialdemokratų partijos (LSDP) pirmininkas Mindaugas Sinkevičius susitiks su laikinuoju užsienio reikalų ministru Kęstučiu Budriu.

Trečiadienį per Lietuvą keliaus jau ryto valandomis mus pasiekęs nedidelis ciklonas iš pietų. Dangų dengs nepastovus debesų sluoksnis, tad ir saulės šią dieną dar bus nemažai.

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LONDON — Keir Starmer has published a long-awaited plan to spend billions of pounds on defense that could cement his legacy as a world statesman. In doing so, he has effectively tied his successor’s hands. The British prime minister’s speech heralding the arrival of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) will probably be the last major piece of policy he announces before stepping down, with Andy Burnham all but certain to take over as leader in three weeks.  He announced an extra £15 billion for the armed forces to meet the greatest threats facing the U.K., including £5 billion towards autonomous systems such as drones and uncrewed vehicles. The defense budget now sits at almost £300 billion over the next four years. This included an additional £1.5 billion of new money secured by new Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis on top of the initial proposal – which prompted Jarvis’ predecessor, John Healey, to resign. But significant problems remain. The DIP gives no funding pathway to hit the U.K.’s NATO target of 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035, and with no commitment to provide one before the next general election, scheduled for 2029. The U.K. will hit 2.7 percent next year, and that number will not rise before 2030. Should he become prime minister, Burnham will have to use his first budget to find almost £5 billion to fund Starmer’s plans, as well as use his first spending review to find billions more to make good on Britain’s promise to NATO allies. Starmer took the opportunity to lay out what he sees as his key international achievements in office, talking up the coalitions he helped build to support Ukraine and bring stability in the wake of the Iran conflict. He also boasted of “delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s.” In doing so, the outgoing PM effectively shone a light on what he believes Burnham’s priorities should be on the world stage, even setting out his own prescription for how they should be met. But at the same time he called attention to some of the deep frustrations during his own time at No.10, which saw him push national security up the Labour Party’s agenda while failing to match the pace of Britain’s allies in rearming. Andrew Kinniburgh, director-general of Make UK Defence, said: “As many other European allies rapidly accelerate towards meeting our new NATO target several years early, the U.K. is on the go-slow.” Partial relief The arrival of the DIP will allow defense companies and service personnel to breathe a sigh of relief. While arguments continue over the level of funding, many will be pleased that it provides some certainty and allows people to make commercial and strategic decisions after spending the last ten months in limbo. Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS, which represents more than 2,000 firms in the sector, said: “The clarity provided will support the U.K.’s defense industry to do what we do best: supply equipment, capabilities and services that ensure the UK’s national security.” Andy Burnham talks to the media in Ashton-in-Makerfield, England on June 9, 2026. | Anthony Devlin/Getty Images Yet there was widespread acceptance even at the plan’s launch that the price tag is only part of the picture. Answering questions at the headquarters of a drone manufacturer in Berkshire, Starmer described the DIP as a “massive step forward” while effectively admitting he had no road map for hitting 3 percent of GDP on spending, specifying that it “must be the number one priority at the next spending review.” Healey, who quit in protest partly at the refusal to set out a roadmap towards the U.K.’s spending pledges, said: “We need a target date for 3 percent and a clear credible funding plan to meet our NATO commitment for 3.5 percent on defence by 2035,” because “European security is at stake.” One Labour MP with a close interest in defense, who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that the strategy “takes us forward” — but added “there is a lot more that needs to happen” which they said would now fall to Burnham when he assumes power.  A defense industry representative went further, saying: “It’s ludicrous that the PM could say earlier this month that our intelligence assessment is that Russia will be ready to invade a NATO country by 2030, only for him to then fail to commit to 3 percent by then.” Ed Arnold, associate fellow at RUSI, said the “modest uplift” under the DIP to take Britain to around 2.7 percent by 2029 “only defers a massive financial injection to defense.” Over to you Starmer also laid out what he thinks Burnham should prioritize in his first spending review as prime minister – a major exercise carried out by the Treasury every few years – but fired a warning shot over other forms of financing reportedly being considered.  The DIP explicitly states that defense “will be the number one priority” at the next spending review, even though it will almost certainly be presented by the next chancellor and not Rachel Reeves, who appeared alongside Starmer at Tuesday’s launch. The PM said that the mooted option of so-called “war bonds,” which have been floated by Andy Haldane, a former Bank of England economist who is advising Burnham, would “push interest rates higher at a time when one pound in every ten already goes on paying debt interest.”  He made no mention of the Canadian-backed multilateral Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which will fuel the impression that the U.K. will not join as a founding member at next week’s NATO summit, despite a push from Burnham’s team for London to sign up. The Treasury has allocated just £400 million in investment for the “Multilateral Defence Mechanism” – a proposal by the U.K., Finland and the Netherlands to provide financing for defense projects – around half of the DSRB’s entry requirement. Most pressing for Burnham, the small print contained in the DIP states that £4.7 billion must be found in savings at the next budget — likely from cuts to other departments — with £1.8 billion of that front-loaded to the current financial year. Allies of Burnham said he had been briefed on the DIP and backed the plan, but would not be drawn on how he planned to meet the targets which have eluded Starmer. One person close to him said that he “recognizes the rising demands on defence and has been clear on the need for defence investment which unambiguously backs British jobs and British industry.”

LONDON — A majority of adults in the U.K. believe Andy Burnham should call an election to win his own mandate to govern if he takes over from Keir Starmer as prime minister.  The POLITICO Poll by Public First found 51 percent of respondents say Burnham, who became an MP just last week, “should call and try to win an election to give his government legitimacy.” Only 34 percent believe he would lead a legitimate administration without a new general election.  The results sharpen a key question in the debate over the transition of power in the U.K., with Burnham all but certain to replace Starmer, who has already set a timetable for his resignation, in No. 10 Downing Street later this month.  Burnham is already facing demands from opposition politicians to call an election and let the country decide, on the basis that he was not even a candidate for parliament at the last general election, which Starmer’s Labour Party won by a landslide two years ago.  “Even if the public is tired of elections, our poll shows they would rather not see someone become the prime minister without going through one,” said Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First. “As with the Conservatives before them, the public responds badly to the idea that leaders of the country are decided in rooms they are not in.” Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester until last month when he won a special by-election to represent the parliamentary seat of Makerfield, in northwestern England, enabling him to put himself forward as a candidate to replace Starmer as Labour leader and PM.  With no other credible rivals likely to stand against him, Burnham seems set for a frictionless takeover, inheriting a huge army of more than 400 Labour MPs in the House of Commons and a massive working majority of 165. That would give him extensive powers to change the country, despite only having won the backing of fewer than 25,000 voters in Makerfield.  Burnham’s allies have dismissed calls for an election. He also said in a speech on Monday that his radical plans for reforming Britain were “consistent with” Labour’s 2024 manifesto, a broad hint that he does not believe another election is necessary.  Voters, it seems, are not convinced.  The Public First poll found 57 percent of respondents think a general election should be held to choose the next government, while 32 per cent said the current Labour government should “see out their term.” Just over half — 51 percent — said the country needed an election to sort out who is in charge.  Men, people aged 65 and over, and respondents in the East of England were the most likely to say “Andy Burnham should call and try to win a general election to give his government legitimacy.”  Among respondents who said they would rather see an election to choose the next government, 42 percent said the public should “always” be responsible for picking a new PM.  Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stands beneath display of UAV drones as he delivers a speech in Berkshire, west of London, on the Defence Investment Plan on June 30, 2026. | Stefan Rousseau/POOL/AFP via Getty Images “For Burnham, there is a risk that even before it exists his leadership is being challenged on its legitimacy,” said Wride. “The public has largely already assumed he will be Prime Minister. They do not see this as a contest, and it is likely the accusations that Burnham’s ideas are ‘untested’ will therefore land more heavily.” The top reason given for not wanting an election was that it would be “too disruptive or costly,” supported by 37 percent of respondents, while 12 percent said they were “bored of voting in elections.” The coronation When it comes to the Labour leadership election, only 21 percent thought it would be “a genuine contest with a real chance for different candidates” while 64 percent said “the outcome is all but guaranteed.”  When asked who was most likely to become the next prime minister, 59 percent of respondents named Burnham, with only 2 percent naming former defense minister Al Carns. Burnham won an endorsement of sorts for replacing Starmer, with 44 percent saying he has a stronger right to govern than Starmer because he “better reflects what the public wants now.” Some 25 percent said Starmer had a stronger right to lead the country because “he won the last general election.”  Labour has been lagging behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK for more than a year in the headline polls. Recent analysis suggests Burnham would cut Reform’s lead if, as expected, he takes over the Labour leadership, but would still struggle to hang onto Labour’s Commons majority, even in the best-case scenarios.  When it comes to political support, respondents to the latest poll who plan to vote for Reform were the most likely to say Burnham needs to call an election to gain legitimacy: 75 percent of current Reform voters backed this approach. Among Conservative voters, the proportion saying Burnham should call an election was 63 percent, while even one in three Labour supporters (34 percent), whose party stands to lose scores of MPs on current polling, think Burnham should seek a new mandate. “Calling an election is undeniably a risk,” Wride said. “Even if we assume that Labour might get a small bounce from changing leader, Burnham has a difficult task ahead to enact popular changes while avoiding the criticism that he has no public mandate for those changes. Election polls remain fractured, and the result is far from predictable.” NOTE: Public First surveyed 2,013 UK adults online, between June 26 and June 29. 

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