Armed forces minister quits after Healey exit as defence funding row deepens

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Armed forces minister quits after Healey exit as defence funding row deepens24 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleJoshua NevettPolitical reporterPA MediaAl Carns said the government's defence plans aren't "sufficiently funded"The armed forces minister has followed former Defence Secretary John Healey in quitting the government in a dispute with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over funding for the military. Al Carns resigned on Thursday evening, writing to Sir Keir to tell him the government's defence investment plan (DIP) was "neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded". It came after Healey resigned in a scathing letter that said the level of military spending proposed by Sir Keir "falls well short" of what's needed to protect the country.

Dan Jarvis, the security minister and a former British Army officer, was appointed to replace Healey in the cabinet role on Thursday evening. Sir Keir has yet to respond to Carns' exit. In his response to Healey's resignation, the prime minister said he was "proud of our record on funding", adding the defence funding plan "will provide the resources our military needs to keep us safe".

The Details

Only an hour or so before his resignation, Carns had suggested he was willing to wait until the DIP was finalised before considering his position in government. But shortly after strikingly candid interviews with Sky News and the , he posted his resignation letter to X, writing he could not defend "a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task". Labour MP Pamela Nash has also quit as Healey's parliamentary assistant at the Ministry of Defence.

In her letter to the prime minister, Nash said "delays and difficulties with securing the necessary funding to progress the defence investment plan has been the latest issue that is damaging to the trust of the public in us". The understands Healey had asked other defence ministers to remain in post. The resignations have left the government reeling and have further sapped the authority of Sir Keir, whose long-term future in Downing Street was already in doubt.

Healey's decision to quit is a particularly big blow to Sir Keir, given the former defence secretary was one of the prime minister's most loyal cabinet allies. It also comes a week before a crucial by-election in which Labour candidate Andy Burnham is seeking a return to Westminster to enable him to challenge Sir Keir for the premiership. Healey is the second cabinet minister to resign from Sir Keir's government in recent weeks, after Wes Streeting quit as health secretary having "lost confidence" in the PM's leadership.

Sir Keir has faced calls to resign within his own party following a poor set of election results in England, Scotland and Wales last month, although he has told supporters he will stand in any Labour leadership contest.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.