Defence spending talks ongoing amid cabinet tensions, says Nandy
Defence spending negotiations are still underway, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy confirmed on Sunday, just days after former Defence Secretary John Healey quit the cabinet in a row over the government’s military funding commitments.
Nandy downplays crisis talk
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Nandy insisted the discussions were part of a normal budgetary process and pushed back against suggestions that Healey’s resignation represented a serious fracture within the Labour government. She acknowledged the departure but stopped well short of calling it a crisis. “These are complex decisions and they’re being worked through in the right way,” she said.
Healey stepped down last week after reportedly clashing with the Treasury over the pace and scale of funding increases for the Ministry of Defence. He had been pushing for a firmer commitment to reach 3% of GDP on defence spending by the end of the decade, a figure significantly above the current NATO target of 2%. The government has yet to set out a precise timeline.
The numbers behind the dispute
Britain currently spends around 2.3% of GDP on defence, roughly £54 billion a year. Healey’s allies argued that reaching 3% would require an additional £20 billion or more annually, a commitment the Treasury was unwilling to make without corresponding cuts elsewhere or fresh revenue. That gap is at the heart of what’s still being negotiated.
It’s a politically charged moment. NATO allies, particularly in Eastern Europe, have been pressing member states to go beyond the existing 2% benchmark. Donald Trump’s pressure on European nations to shoulder more of the burden has added urgency to those calls. And with a NATO summit scheduled for The Hague in June, Britain’s position matters more than usual.
Cabinet unity under scrutiny
The optics aren’t great for Keir Starmer.
Losing a cabinet minister over defence funding, barely a year into government, hands the Conservatives a ready-made attack line. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge wasted no time, accusing the government of “dithering on the single most important question facing this country.” The Liberal Democrats have also called for a clearer public commitment.
Nandy’s response was to frame the ongoing talks as evidence of thoroughness rather than disarray. But it’s hard to ignore that a senior minister walked out rather than wait for that process to conclude. That doesn’t suggest smooth internal diplomacy.
What happens next
A new defence secretary is expected to be announced early this week. Whoever takes the job will inherit an in-tray dominated by a single question: how much, and how soon. The spending review, due later this spring, will likely force the government’s hand one way or another.
For now, Nandy’s message was essentially: watch this space. Whether that’s reassuring or evasive probably depends on which side of the argument you’re already on.
