UK Defence Funding Crisis: Healey Resigns, Leaving Starmer Without Strategy

John Healey quit as UK defence secretary on Thursday, citing an inadequate funding offer from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The resignation leaves Starmer's already weak government without a clear defence strategy less than a month before a Nato summit and amid Donald Trump's threats to resume bombing Iran.

Starmer had committed to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, but his offer to Healey was only an additional £2bn (0.08% of GDP) by 2030. In his resignation letter, Healey wrote that the offer "falls well short of what is required for defence and the country" and that it would breach Starmer's earlier Nato pledge.

The Ministry of Defence's funding gap, initially £28bn, was later reduced to £18bn, but the Treasury was only willing to find £13.5bn. Healey complained that Starmer sat on the problem for months before making a derisory offer.

Healey's departure comes at a critical time: the UK is a partner in the Aukus nuclear submarine programme with Australia and the US, has offered to lead peacekeeping forces in Ukraine and secure the Strait of Hormuz, and is involved in the GCAP next-generation fighter jet project with Japan and Italy. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is due to visit London on Sunday.

Australia's former foreign minister Gareth Evans told an inquiry that every report from the UK indicates its defence-industrial base is under "extraordinary stress" and that meeting project timelines requires "heroic levels of optimism" – questioning the UK's ability to deliver on Aukus.

Starmer now faces a by-election in Makerfield and a Nato summit in early July. He must decide whether to force a new defence secretary to accept the rejected settlement or revisit the already tortured defence spending process.