Britain not safe under Starmer’s new defence plan, John Healey suggests

Sir Keir Starmer’s new Defense Investment Plan (DIP) will not keep Britain safe, according to the former defense secretary who resigned over a lack of funding for the military and has now called on the government to “do more” to strengthen Britain’s defences.

John Healey, who resigned earlier this month after accusing the Prime Minister of being “unwilling to commit the resources” needed to keep Britain safe, suggested the final funding deal of 2.7 per cent of GDP was not enough and called on the government to set a target date for the UK to spend 3 per cent on defence.

While the £15bn of funding allocated in the long-delayed DIP is £1.5bn more than the £13.5bn offer made to Mr Healey a few weeks ago, it still falls well short of the £28bn authorities want.

With Sir Keir scheduled to leave office within a few weeks, there is no guarantee that the funding identified today will still remain in the hands of the next prime minister.

Sir Keir, who said he would not cut day-to-day spending on front-line services to fund the DIP, said he was scrapping some capital projects that were “not immediately vital”, including some roads and energy schemes, to make up for the extra £1.5bn.

Other key elements of the Defense Investment Plan include:

The Ministry of Defense has been told to find nearly £11bn worth of cuts by 2029, with Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis admitting “tough choices” will be required to ensure the armed forces are fit for the modern age.

Britain will scrap some old weapons and equipment, including Storm Shadow missiles and a number of military helicopters, as part of a bid to make the military more efficient.

“Increasing spending is only half the story. We have made difficult choices, such as stopping doing things designed for another era and investing in capabilities fit for the next war, not the last one,” Mr Jarvis wrote in the foreword to the DIP.

Responding to the DIP published on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Healey said: “I want the Defense Investment Plan to be successful. I also thank MOD officials who have worked hard on this plan for many months. I welcome the extra funding and focus that the Treasury has handed over over the last few weeks.”

But he warned: “The Prime Minister has made significant new UK commitments. So we must do more now… 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. Europe’s security is at stake.”

He demanded a target date for the government to spend 3 percent of GDP on defense and “a credible financing plan to meet our NATO commitment of 3.5 percent on defense by 2035.”

Former Labor defense minister Lord Hutton also criticized the plan, accusing Sir Keir of not being “strong enough”.

“I’m afraid it certainly won’t put us in a position where our armed forces will be combat-ready by the end of this parliament, because I think that’s the real challenge that we face,” he told Times Radio.

The DIP makes clear the government’s intention to increase defense spending to 3 per cent in the next parliament, adding that funding and plans “will be determined at the next spending review, where defense will be the number one priority”.

While defense sources insisted it was “incredibly unusual for the Treasury to state what its top priority is before the next spending review”, Armed Forces Secretary Luke Pollard did not say whether Andy Burnham, who is expected to take over as prime minister in the next few weeks, had agreed to make defense a top priority in the next spending review, meaning there was no guarantee the commitment would stand.

Mr Pollard also stressed that the UK was “still committed” to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defense by 2035.

Efficiencies worth around £11bn will include savings of £3.3bn through civilian workforce changes; This includes a target to reduce labor costs by at least 10 percent by 2030.

It has a target to automate at least 20 percent of HR, finance and business functions by July 2028, as well as plans to move regular staff from administrative duties to the front line. Around £2 billion will be saved from infrastructure, while £3.7 billion will be saved from reforms to procurement and supply chain processes.

Defense sources insisted the £15bn increase in spending power was not down to savings, while efficiency savings were “not directly linked to the increase in spending”.

The DIP announced that Storm Shadow missiles (British-French long-range, air-launched cruise missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia) would be canceled as part of a series of “difficult choices” made by the Ministry of Defence.

While Storm Shadow missiles play a “vital role” for the armed forces, ministers are “now turning to a new generation of low-cost cruise missiles, meaning we will receive significantly more missiles at a lower overall cost,” according to the document.

The report stated, “In addition to such weapons, Stratus missiles, which will carry out long-range attacks against complex targets, will be the future of the United Kingdom’s complex weapons program.”

More than 30 Wildcat helicopters and Chinook helicopters will also be canceled to save money, and plans will also be made to improve the satellite communications system.

Meanwhile, the target to increase the size of the cadet force by 30 percent by 2030 has been postponed until 2035.

But Sir Keir vowed the DIP would reverse the “corrosive hollowing out” of the armed forces and pledged to spend more than £5bn to fund a “drone transformation” for the armed forces over the next four years.

Sir Keir said around £650 million would be spent on combat and surveillance drones for ground forces, which would help increase the military’s “lethality” tenfold.

There will also be funding for a “hybrid” Royal Navy consisting of smaller, autonomous ships operating alongside crewed ships.

As well as this, the prime minister has pledged more than £8bn to the Global Combat Air Programme, to create a new generation of stealth fighter jets for the Royal Air Force in concert with Japan and Italy.

Meanwhile, nuclear deterrence spending will also increase, reaching 20-25 per cent of the Ministry of Defense’s overall budget, with around £64 billion flowing into the sector.

This will include £47 billion for submarines, £13 billion for nuclear warheads, £1.7 billion for nuclear fuels and £290 million for skills.