UK defence spending plan ‘well short of what’s required’ and harder choices needed, says John Healey - as it happened

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25m ago

Healey says defence needs more than 'incremental change'

Healey says the government has been working 12 months on the defence investment plan.

double quotation mark Since the SDR [strategic defence review] we’ve seen the world changing still faster, with threats increasing and demands on defence, rising conflict in the Middle East, new Nato missions in the High North, the US moving forces away from Europe, intensifying attacks in Ukraine and increasing Russian aggression towards the UK.

Nato has now said we must prepare for war with Russia within the next five years.

This is the age of hard power and rising threat. This is not the moment for calibration or incremental change.

This means bigger politics, bolder priorities, harder choices.

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Al Carns suggests Labour has let down its core voters in his resignation speech to MPs

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Healey says UK needs 'bigger view of national security'

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Al Carns suggests Labour has let down its core voters in his resignation speech to MPs

Healey was followed in the Commons by Al Carns , who also resigned as armed forces minister on Thursday last week, about eight hours after Healey. Like Healey, Carns also said he was going because he thought the defence investment plan (Dip) was under-funded. But there has been speculation that he only decided to quit after it became clear that he was not being offered Healey’s job.

Carns told MPs that resigning as a minister was “an exceptionally difficult decision”.

He said that, when he accepted ministerial office, he did so “with a simple purpose to serve those that serve us”. He went on:

double quotation mark There comes a point when honesty requires action. And for me, that point came last week.

As honourable members know, I came into politics for one reason. That was to enact change.

But to be able to work out where you’re going, we must realise where we have come from. The Labour party I joined is one that was chiselled out of the mines of the north east. It was hammered out of the shipyards of Govan, Liverpool and Belfast. And it was forged in the factories of the industrial revolution.

Calloused hands, sore backs, people who did a hard day’s graft and asked for one thing in return – a government that has their back.

That’s the tradition I serve in this house, and it’s a tradition that shaped that decision I took last week.

And I resigned for several reasons.

Healey says UK needs 'bigger view of national security'

Healey said he was grateful to cabinet colleagues who agreed to cuts to fund higher defence spending.

He went on:

double quotation mark There are credible ways of meeting the mid-term funding challenges, working multinationally and as other nations in Europe are doing.

They could allow us to protect the ability to deliver our Labour missions across government.

Healey also calls for a different approach to defence.

double quotation mark We need a bigger view of national security. It’s not just the job for defence or the agencies. Every department has a part to play in national security and national resili…