UK’s defense secretary quits over budget disagreement with Starmer

By Reuters 11 June 2026, 2:23 pm

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LONDON — British Defense Secretary John Healey has resigned over a disagreement about defense spending, he says in a letter posted on X.

Britain’s defense and finance ministries have been locked in talks for months over how to meet rising demands to expand military spending, delaying Britain’s Defense Investment Plan since last year.

“You have 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,” Healey says in his letter to Starmer.

The delay has infuriated Britain’s defense industry, which says it cannot invest in long-term programs for the country’s security at a time of huge geopolitical volatility and as the United States pivots away from protecting Europe.