Armed Forces Minister Resigns Over Defence Spending
Armed Forces Minister Al Carns has resigned over the government's plans on defence spending. (Alamy)
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Armed Forces Minister Al Carns has resigned over the government's plans on defence spending and its Northern Ireland Legacy Bill, claiming "the deal this country makes with the people who serve it" is "broken".
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the former marine said the proposed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) was not good enough, stating it "is neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded", adding that "a serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced".
"I have sat in the rooms, seen the assessments, and spoken to the commanders who will be asked to do more with less, and I cannot in good conscience stand at the dispatch box and defend a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task," wrote Carns.
Carns was also critical of the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill, describing it as "unfit for purpose" and that it currently "risks failing the very veterans it claims to protect".
"I set out the changes I believed were necessary, and the lines which I could not in good conscience go beyond," he wrote.
"Those lines have not been accepted. I have run out of room to argue this case honourably from inside government. A serving minister cannot ask fellow veterans to trust a process he no longer trusts himself."
He also said "the machinery of government itself has been left to decay" and that "decisions that should take days, take months".
In his resignation letter Carns, who is reportedly prepared to run in a Labour leadership contest should one be triggered, gave a broader critique of the government, too.
"Too many working people in this country feel insecure even when they are doing everything right," he wrote
"They work hard, contribute, pay their taxes, and still feel one setback away from trouble. Public confidence in our institutions is weakening, and politics increasingly look performative while everyday life gets harder."
His resignation comes hours after Defence Secretary John Healey resigned over the government's defence spending plans, saying he had been "left with no other option" after being presented with details of how much additional money the government was planning to spend on the Defence Investment Plan (DIP).
"Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe," wrote Healey in his resignation letter.
"After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary."
In an interview with PoliticsHome, Lord Hutton, defence secretary between 2008 and 2009 under former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, said Healey's resignation was a "colossal failure of government".
The former defence secretary said the government would need to combine borrowing with spending cuts, including welfare, to fund the necessary increase to defence spending - stating he was "utterly frustrated" the government seemed "completely unable to address" the issue.
The departure of Carns from government so soon after Healey's will pile further pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as the embattled Prime Minister attempts to keep his government together ahead of next week's by-election which could see Labour Manchester mayor Andy Burnham elected to parliament in Makerfield.
Burnham, who has made no secret of his leadership ambitions, admitted on the BBC's Question Time last week that he would run in any Labour leadership contest - accusing Wes Streeting, who resigned as Health Secretary last month over Starmer's leadership and heavy by-election losses, of starting the contest already.
