The resignation of John Healey as Defence Secretary is a damning reflection on the current state of affairs and a warning that national security cannot be run as an accounting exercise, the chief executive of ADS, the trade body representing more than two thousand businesses across the United Kingdom’s aerospace, defence, security and space sectors, has said.
Kevin Craven issued the statement on Thursday in the hours after Healey quit the Cabinet over the funding settlement behind the Defence Investment Plan, saying the news “has sent us reeling.” Over the years he had known the outgoing Defence Secretary, Craven said, Healey had “consistently shown himself to be an intelligent, supportive and highly principled man” with the best interests of UK defence in mind in everything he does.
The resignation, Craven said, was “something to lament” and “truly a damning reflection on the current state of affairs.” The consequences for the United Kingdom and its allies of getting the Defence Investment Plan wrong, “as now seems certain”, he said, were “of a magnitude far beyond our worst fears.”
The sharpest line in the statement is aimed squarely at the Treasury’s role in the dispute that brought the Defence Secretary down. “National security and defence of the realm is not an accountant’s job,” Craven said, adding that it was imperative an adequately funded plan was published as soon as possible. “It should not take the resignation of an honourable man for that realization to sink in.”
On a personal level, Craven thanked Healey for his service and his “tireless recognition of the vital importance of industry as a strategic enabler” to UK security.
The ADS statement is among the strongest of the industry responses to a day that has seen the trade bodies representing British defence manufacturing line up behind the departed Defence Secretary, with Make UK Defence calling the resignation “a wake-up call for those inside Government still blocking the acceleration of defence investment” and reporting that member companies have gone bust waiting for the plan, while a techUK survey published last week found 93 per cent of defence technology suppliers reassessing investment or recruitment as a direct result of the delay. The chair of the Commons Defence Committee, Tan Dhesi, earlier called the resignation “a grave moment.”
Healey resigned on Thursday after telling the Prime Minister that the financial settlement behind the Defence Investment Plan, shown to him in full on Monday afternoon, was backloaded, would reach just 2.68 per cent of GDP by 2030 against the three per cent headmark he had pressed for, and would force decisions that “could make the country less safe.” The plan had been due to be published before the NATO summit in Ankara next month, and Downing Street has yet to name a successor.
Interesting to see that increasing numbers of former service personnel are posting on social media putting potential new recruits off from joining up. Meanwhile the number of medical negligence claims increases. The UK is in a financial crisis and a very poor example. The Defence Department should recommend neutrality as other countries, including the US wake up to the fact that the UK is a basket case dependent on others including for its nuclear weapons.
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I’m sure starmer reeves and millibellend work for the Chinese government and not the uk
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From the sounds of it the muppets in government, Starmer and Reeves especially, are content to ignore this. Typical of the treasonous bastards.
I don’t really know what to say ! It’s treacherous beyond belief, the governments first job is to defend us ! It certainly isn’t to worry about Global warming when we only account for 1% of the total. If they pulled the oil and gas out of the sea and reduced the cost of energy we might be able to afford to buy the tools we need to defend ourselves. This government were voted in by default and I’m afraid that the situation is only going to get worse before it can get better. They are im afraid only interested in their own agenda.
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Struggling to understand why Miliband has so much leverage over Starmer and his cronies.
Surely when the country is in self destruct mode with North Sea Oil, Energy Bills and industry this fool should be sacked.
We have to put things in perspective with net zero when we are only responsible for 1% of worldwide emissions.
A strong country able to protect itself, project power and influence the private sector with advances in military technology is a strong and successful country.
Exactly. The PM should be in charge. Have your disagreements and respect different points in cabinet but in his position he’s got the final “capitan’s” call and over treasury too, surely? Or is it a consensus on consensus?
You watch Q the CDS will be next to resign – that will give the RAF some cudos 😇
Seems like ADS expects the Government to issue the defence industry with blank cheques. No government should do that. The structural issues of the UK economy have been years in the making. If Healey was going around raising excessive expectations about spending then its no wonder he resigned.
The resignation of John Healey is a damning verdict of the Liebour party, and their swollen ranks of over privileged woke anti anything military membership. The reality however, is that those same over privileged woke creatures, will not care less that Healey has gone, nor of the message within his resignation.
Those same ‘creatures’ are even less bothered about the damage Liebour, and the previous government have done to the armed forces, and our countries military reputation.
It is indeed a damning indictment of British Politics, and the political classes.
Appalling interview on BBC Five Live yesterday with a woman from highly reputed Institute for Fiscal studies, who without challenge from equally clueless interviewer, said we already spend 2 6% of GDP on defence. No we don’t!
There is now an argument to be made that we might as well make radical CUTS to the existing budget – how we spend the current budget on forces now with virtually no sustainable combat power is beyond me!
We need to be spending around 30 percent of GDP while we rebuild, at an absolute minimum. How we do that I don’t care, tax those with lore than a million is a good start, stopping overseas aid, cutting the amount squandered on local councils and the NHS (and yes, squandered), and let’s stop giving benefits to people who have never worked here