UK defence minister John Healey resigns, warning Starmer's military spending plan leaves Britain 'less safe'

The resignation

John Healey, the UK defence secretary, quit on Thursday morning in a dispute over military spending, publishing a scathing resignation letter on social media. He becomes the fourth cabinet minister to leave Keir Starmer's government since Labour took power and the second to resign over policy differences, after health secretary Wes Streeting departed in May.

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 he received the full financial settlement for the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) on Monday afternoon and concluded it fell well short of requirements. The plan, originally called for by the Strategic Defence Review roughly a year ago, has been repeatedly delayed by wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury.

The spending dispute

The core disagreement centres on the pace of defence spending increases. The government has committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035, but Healey said the plan presented to him moved too slowly, with spending reaching only 2.68% in 2030 after hitting 2.6% next year. Healey argued the imperative to speed up readiness to fight lies in the first two years, not after 2030.

I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.

Sources cited by British media said the Treasury refused to set a firm date for reaching the 3% of GDP threshold, a guarantee the Ministry of Defence considered essential for the plan's credibility. The total sum presented by the government was reported at £13.5 billion.

Political fallout

Healey's departure compounds pressure on Starmer, who is already facing a likely leadership challenge from Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and is weakened by recent local election losses. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the resignation showed Starmer's premiership was "falling apart" and that the prime minister had "no plan whatsoever".

I don't see how he can stay in this job. He can't run the country. He is paralysed because his backbenchers only want to spend money on welfare.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called the resignation a "wake-up call" for Starmer and Burnham, urging them to "get serious about funding our armed forces properly". Former Conservative defence minister Tom Tugendhat described Healey's letter as "principled" and said it "states clearly this administration has failed".

Strategic context

The UK is contending with the US pivoting away from protecting Europe while the US-Israeli war with Iran exposed Britain's lack of military readiness. The Royal Navy was unable to immediately deploy an advanced warship to the region. Military leaders have stressed the DIP is needed to meet the rising threat level amid frequent Russian incursions into British waters.

NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, asked about the resignation at a press conference in Brussels, acknowledged that increasing military spending was not easy, noting governments must balance defence with other priorities. Starmer said on Wednesday the DIP would be published before the NATO summit beginning on 7 July.