UK defence funding row deepens after second ministerial resignation

The UK government is facing a deepening row over defence funding after armed forces minister Al Carns resigned on Thursday evening. His departure followed the earlier resignation of former Defence Secretary John Healey, who quit over the same dispute with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer about the military funding plan. The resignations have intensified pressure on the government as it tries to finalise its defence investment plan.

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Carns said in his resignation letter that the government's defence investment plan was "neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded". He had only hours earlier suggested he might wait until the plan was finalised before deciding whether to stay in post. After giving interviews in which he set out his concerns, he posted his resignation letter on X and said he could not defend "a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task".

Healey had already resigned in a separate letter that said the level of military spending proposed by Starmer "falls well short" of what is needed to protect the country. In response, the prime minister said he was "proud of our record on funding" and argued the defence funding plan would provide the resources the armed forces need to keep the country safe. Dan Jarvis, the security minister and a former British Army officer, was appointed to replace Healey in the cabinet role on Thursday evening.

Starmer has yet to respond publicly to Carns' exit. The dispute matters because the defence investment plan is meant to shape long-term funding for capability, procurement and readiness. According to the supplied material, the row has already affected confidence inside the Ministry of Defence and has left the government reeling.

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It also comes at a time when the UK is under pressure to show progress on commitments to Nato allies and on wider defence cooperation with partners including Australia and the United States. The earlier article in this developing story said No 10 had told Healey on Monday that it would offer an extra £2bn, or 0.08% of GDP, by 2030. It also said the dispute had been left unresolved for months before that offer was made, and that the funding plan is linked to major programmes such as the £41bn Dreadnought submarine replacement project and the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the United States.

Those details help explain why the row has become politically significant as well as administrative. The resignations also come against a wider backdrop of defence and foreign policy commitments. The material says Starmer has promised that Britain would stand firmly with Ukraine alongside France and Germany, and that the UK and France could lead an international peacekeeping deployment if there is a durable ceasefire.

It also notes that the government has faced scrutiny over the timing of naval deployments, including a delay in sending HMS Dragon to Cyprus in March. Together, these issues have sharpened questions about whether the government's ambitions are matched by the resources available. What remains unclear is whether the funding dispute can be resolved without further resignations or delays to the defence investment plan.

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