Ahead of the trip, Burnham made the claim that the spending would help revitalise the economy and local community. Downing Street said that this phase of contracts would support 18,000 extra jobs in nuclear weapons sector and 22,000 additional apprentices by 2035. Successive British governments have claimed that hikes to military spending will result in improving the economy. Burnham has gone along with the Defence Investment Plan – of which £64 billion has been allocated to nuclear weapons. It needs to focus on diplomacy and dialogue, and scrap its nuclear weapons and cut back its military spending.