Healey resigns as defence secretary amid military spending row

John Healey has resigned as defence secretary amid a battle within government over funding for a long-delayed military spending plan.

In a letter to the prime minister, Healey said a settlement for the defence investment plan (DIP) "falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time".

Healey also said Sir Keir Starmer had been "unable" and the Treasury "unwilling" to "commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats".

The DIP will explain how new equipment and defence infrastructure will be funded over the coming decade, after a review of military capabilities last year.

Healey said demands on defence had increased since January due to the conflict in the Middle East and new UK commitments in the Arctic and Ukraine.

He explained that he received the DIP financial settlement on Monday, but expressed concerns that extra support is "backloaded when the pressure of operations and imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years".

The DIP was first expected to be published in the autumn. Unions and defence firms have warned the continued delay to the blueprint is a threat to British jobs, skills and national security.