​John Healey resigns as defence secretary over military spending

Minister accuses Starmer of being ‘unable to commit the resources to defend the country at this time of rising threats’

The defence secretary, John Healey , has resigned over the government’s defence spending plans.

The long-awaited defence investment plan (DIP) was expected to be published imminently, but in a letter to the prime minister, Keir Starmer , Healey said it fell “well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”.

In his resignation letter, Healey wrote that the need for further investment in defence was clear, and that work on how much it would cost had been completed in January.

He wrote: “Since then, you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”

Healey said that he had seen the final defence settlement only on Monday afternoon, and it fell “well short” of what was needed.

He said the extra support was “backloaded”, when “the pressure of operations and imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years, and it rises to just 2.68% of GDP in 2030, when we will reach 2.6% next year with the investment we are already making”.

He said Starmer had warned that Nato would face an attack by Russia by 2030, and so was aware “what defence needs”.