Healey said the defence investment plan ‘falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time’. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersView image in fullscreenHealey said the defence investment plan ‘falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time’. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersJohn 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 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.”
