British Defence Secretary resigns over military spending dispute
London, June 11 (IANS) British Defence Secretary John Healey resigned on Thursday over a disagreement about defence spending, saying the government had failed to commit sufficient resources at a time of rising security threats.
In a letter to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Healey said the proposed Defence Investment Plan fell “well short” of the country’s needs. “You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country,” he wrote.
Healey said assessments of the additional investment needed by the armed forces and their cost had been completed in January, but the government had not provided the necessary funding commitments, Xinhua news agency reported.
The long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is intended to translate Britain’s strategic defence review into a 10-year funding program for military equipment and services. However, its publication has been held up since last year amid months of negotiations between the Defence Ministry and the Treasury over how to finance the expansion and modernisation of the armed forces.
”After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary,” Healey wrote in the letter.
Britain has pledged to raise NATO-qualifying defence spending to 2.6 per cent of its gross domestic product by 2027 and core defence spending to 3.5 percent by 2035, as part of a broader commitment to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence and security. However, questions have remained over the pace of the increase and the resources available in the coming years.
The resignation of Healey, who has served as defence secretary since the Labour government took office in July 2024, deals another blow to Starmer, as he has been facing calls from some Labour lawmakers to step down after the party suffered heavy losses in local and devolved elections in May.
–IANS
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