Defence secretary of the United Kingdom, John Healey, resigned from his position on Thursday, citing the government’s unwillingness to increase defence spending at a time of rising threats.In his letter to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, Healey expressed that the prime minister has 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.”According to Healey, it was the PM who recently informed of the intelligence assessment regarding Russia’s potential attack on Nato by 2030. Yet, the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) wasn’t up to the standard to counter the threat.“Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, 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”, he wrote.Keir has pledged to boost UK defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 and 3% by 2034, but it isn’t being seen as fast enough.The letter mentioned that the UK’s demands on defence have increased significantly. It now leads the multinational Strait of Hormuz military mission in the Middle East, and Nato’s Sentry mission in the Arctic. With Russia’s increasedIncreased attacks in Ukraine have brought the trilateral ‘Paris agreement’ of January 6 back into focus, under which Britain has to deploy troops in Ukraine, once a peace deal with Russia is achieved.Healey had been the defence secretary ever since the Keir led Labour Party, came to power in 2024. He has the impression of being a capable minister.Appreciating the PM’s efforts, he mentioned how his tenure brought the biggest defence reforms in 50 years, raised the defence investments to 2.5% of GDP, three years before expectations, signed major defence agreements with Germany, Norway and France, and won the biggest UK defence export deals for decades.According to AP, the resignation is another blow to the British prime minister, who is already facing resignation demands from Labour colleagues.Despite his resignation, Healey has ensured “full support” to the Labour Government.
