Dearne Valley MP Healey quits as Defence Secretary

RAWMARSH and Conisbrough MP John Healey has dramatically quit as Defence Secretary in a row over funding.

Mr Healey stepped down today (Thursday) and blasted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves for failing to find the funds he thinks are needed for the country’s defence.

There has been a wrangle in government as different departments face cuts to pay for defence pledges, and now Mr Healey believes the funding promised is inadequate.

In his resignation letter to the PM, Mr Healey said: “This new era for defence required further investment through the Defence Investment Plan. The excellent and extensive cross-government work that completed in January – overseen by you, me and the Chancellor - confirmed the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defence.

“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.”

Mr Healey had told Keir Starmer that the amount pledged for defence of £10bn is way below the £28bn that experts say is needed over ten years.

No new Defence Secretary has yet been announced.

Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch said that Mr Healey had acted “honourably” for resigning over the Prime Minister’s stance on defence funding, and shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said Mr Healey had “integrity”.

MP Mark Francois said: “An honourable man has just resigned from a collapsing and incompetent government.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Healey’s resignation was a “wake-up call” to the Prime Minister.

But a government source told the BBC: “This country is safer because of the decisions Keir Starmer has made and we will continue to act in our national interest.

“It is this Labour government and this Labour prime minister that is delivering the largest sustained boost to defence spending since the Cold War.

“We cut the international aid budget to make record investment in our armed forces, and now the PM is imposing cuts on other government departments to fund billions more.

“The defence investment plan will deliver the capability our armed forces need. ⁠We will always do what is right, and needed, to keep the country safe.”

Mr Healey is the sixth minister to resign from the government in the last month.