The resignation of John Healey as Defence Secretary has torpedoed all credibility in Keir Starmer’s defence and security policy.
Only a year ago, Healey and Starmer launched a brand-new Strategic Defence Review. Starmer promised at least 2.5 per cent of GDP being spent on defence, in line with Nato’s demands – and this was to rise to 3 per cent by 2030.
Now, all bets are off. The much-needed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) to explain how the extra funding would be raised and spent was due last September. It had to be published now for the Nato Summit in Ankara early next month, which requires Britain to table a national defence plan to show what it would commit to the alliance.
Not doing so would be a breach of Article 3 of the Nato founding treaty, which holds that a member nation must be capable of defending itself.
In his resignation letter, Healey states that Starmer appeared to agree back in January about the need to invest more in defence, given the worsening security picture across the world, particularly in Ukraine and the Gulf. “Since then [January],” writes Healey, “you have been unable, and the Treasury have been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
