Former defence minister Al Carns has turned down a ministerial offer, saying the defence funding row that drove his resignation is still unresolved.
Former defence minister Al Carns has turned down a ministerial offer in the ongoing defence funding row, saying the issue that led him to quit has still not been settled. Carns said he was offered a post by chief whip Anneliese Midgely but declined because he remains concerned about the money set aside for the armed forces.
Carns resigned in June after John Healey, then defence secretary, stepped down from former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government over planned military funding. Both men argued the proposed funding was not enough. At the time, Sir Keir replaced Healey with Dan Jarvis and increased the long-delayed defence investment plan by a small amount, but left a £4.7bn gap.
Writing on social media, Carns said he had resigned because he did not believe the defence funding on the table matched the threats facing the country. He said he still stood by that view. Carns added that, under normal circumstances, he would serve if asked, but said taking a government role now would suggest his push for higher military funding was finished. Instead, he wants to keep pressing the case from the back benches.
He also said the appointment of his former boss Healey as chancellor had shifted the debate in the right direction. Carns described Healey as a man of his word and said he welcomed the move, saying it was meaningful because Healey would now face the task of finding the extra money he believed had been missing. The new defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said earlier on Wednesday that every penny should be spent wisely and that military investment must go with modernisation.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants to meet the UK’s defence commitments, including Nato’s core target of 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2035. Conservative shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge has questioned whether Burnham will raise spending to 3% during the current Parliament, which runs until 2029. The latest ministerial changes come after a string of resignations and reshuffles that have also affected the home office and other departments. The defence funding fight now matters because it will shape how much support the armed forces get and how seriously the government treats national security.
