Healey Warns Starmer’s £15bn Defence Plan Still Leaves Britain Exposed

Former Defence Secretary John Healey has warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s newly unveiled Defence Investment Plan will still leave Britain inadequately prepared for future threats, despite a £15 billion increase in military spending.

Mr Healey resigned earlier this month after a prolonged dispute within Government over defence funding. At the time, he argued that the Prime Minister was “unable” and the Treasury was “unwilling” to commit the resources needed to rebuild Britain’s armed forces at the pace demanded by an increasingly dangerous international environment.

On Tuesday, Sir Keir announced a £15 billion increase in defence investment over the next four years, up from the £13.5 billion package that Mr Healey had previously rejected before leaving office. The settlement followed intensive negotiations between the Treasury and Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis.

Despite the additional funding, Mr Healey said the package still falls short of what Britain requires.

“Today is the next down-payment for defence. It builds on the record defence investment Labour in government has already made,” he said.

“But Britain will still be spending just 2.7 per cent of GDP in 2030, the date when Nato has warned we could face a Russian attack.”

He also called on Andy Burnham, widely regarded as the favourite to succeed Sir Keir, to commit to spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence and to set out what he described as a “clear, credible funding plan” to achieve Nato’s longer-term target of 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035.

The intervention threatens to overshadow what was intended to be one of the final major policy announcements of Sir Keir’s premiership.

The Defence Investment Plan commits approximately £15 billion of additional funding between now and 2030, taking annual defence spending to almost £80 billion by the end of the decade. Government figures suggest total defence expenditure will reach around 2.69 to 2.7 per cent of GDP by 2030.

A major focus of the package is a £5 billion investment in drones, autonomous weapons systems and battlefield technology, reflecting lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. Ministers also pledged substantial investment in ammunition production, cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, military infrastructure and Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

The Government argues that the package represents the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War and will help ensure Britain remains prepared for emerging threats from hostile states including Russia.

However, critics note that the settlement still leaves Britain trailing several key Nato allies.

Germany is expected to spend around 3.7 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 following its major military expansion programme. Poland is already spending more than 4 per cent of GDP on defence, while Sweden has committed to reaching 3.5 per cent by the end of the decade.

At last week’s Nato summit, alliance members reaffirmed plans to move towards spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence requirements by 2035, alongside wider security spending commitments.

Military analysts have warned that Britain’s armed forces continue to face significant capability gaps after decades of reductions in personnel, equipment and stockpiles. The British Army is currently at its smallest size since the Napoleonic era, with trained regular troop numbers having fallen to around 70,000.

The announcement comes against a backdrop of heightened international tensions. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues into its fifth year, instability persists across the Middle East, and Western governments have increasingly warned of growing threats from hostile state actors and cyber warfare.

Funding the package has also proved politically contentious. Rather than increasing borrowing, ministers have indicated that some of the additional defence spending will be funded through reprioritisation of existing capital budgets, potentially affecting infrastructure and transport projects elsewhere in Government.

For Sir Keir, the Defence Investment Plan is likely to be one of the final major policy legacies of his time in Downing Street. Yet Mr Healey’s intervention highlights the debate that continues to dominate defence circles: whether Britain is moving quickly enough to meet the increasingly demanding security challenges of the coming decade.

With Labour now preparing for a leadership transition and Mr Burnham expected to outline his own priorities in the coming weeks, questions over defence spending are likely to remain at the centre of political debate long after Sir Keir leaves office.