Tag: John Healey

The resignation letter sent by John Healey to Keir Starmer, announcing his departure from the Defence Secretary role, on 11 June 2026.

Dear Keir,

This is a letter I never expected to write, and I do so now with great regret and reluctance.

I am proud of what we have done in less than two years as a Labour Government. We’ve stepped up to lead internationally for Ukraine with the Coalition of the Willing and Ukraine Defence Contact Group, established Britain as a leading voice for Europe in NATO, raised defence investment to 2.5% of GDP three years earlier than anyone expected, launched the deepest defence reforms in 50 years, won the biggest UK defence export deals for decades, published a first-of-its-kind Strategic Defence Review, gave our Armed Forces the biggest pay rise in nearly 20 years, boosted military morale, fixed over 1,200 of the worst forces family homes, reset relations with European allies and signed major defence agreements with Germany, Norway and France.

You have led this as PM, earning wide respect at home and abroad. Like me, I know you are exceptionally proud of our Forces and all of those who work in UK Defence.

We came into Government, recognising Britain faced a new era of threat which demanded a new era for defence. The SDR we jointly commissioned set the 10-year vision to transform our Armed Forces, strengthen alliances, invest in the technology that is changing warfare and back British industry to make defence an engine for growth.

This new era for defence required further investment through the Defence Investment Plan. The excellent and extensive cross-Government work that completed in January — overseen by you, me and the Chancellor — confirmed the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defence.

Since then, you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.

Since then, the demands on defence have increased still further, as have the UK commitments you have rightly made to allies. Conflict in the Middle East, with the UK now leading the multinational Strait of Hormuz military mission; High North security, with the UK now leading NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission; increased Russian activity towards the UK and NATO nations and increased attacks in Ukraine, with the Paris Agreement confirming a British deployment to Ukraine after a ceasefire.

We have worked to secure a Defence Investment Plan that does two things. First, deal with the increasing operational demands on defence now and step up the SDR actions to meet the increasing threat. Second, set a clear path to meet the new NATO commitment you agreed to spend 3.5% of GDP in 2035 through the next Spending Review.

As we have regularly discussed, I am certain that a headmark date for 3% of GDP on defence in 2030 is what Britain must set. This commitment would have strong cross-party support. Other European allies are stepping up in this way.

I know how hard you have worked to get to this point. And in funding the DIP, I fully recognise the strain this places on colleagues in other Departments, both now as you have required spending switched into defence and in the future. I am very grateful to those colleagues who have supported this, and I appreciate how difficult their choices will have been.

As I’ve outlined to you, there are credible ways of meeting the mid-term funding challenges, working multi-nationally and as other European nations are doing, to allow us to protect our ability to deliver the missions of our Labour Government.

However, your DIP financial settlement — which I was first given in full on Monday afternoon this week — falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time. The extra support is backloaded when the pressure of operations and imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years and it rises to just 2.68% of GDP in 2030, when we will reach 2.6% next year with the investment we are already making.

You spelled out the threats last week: “it is our intelligence assessment, and the assessment of other countries in NATO, that there could be an attack by Russia on NATO as soon as 2030.”

You know what defence needs. You made the argument for this powerfully in your speech at the Munich Security Conference back in February. 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.

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.

I wish you all continuing strength in the exceptional challenges you face as Prime Minister. As always, our Labour Government will continue to have my fullest support.

Rt Hon John Healey MP

The speech made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, in Tokyo, Japan on 28 August 2025.

Ohayo-gozaimasu, good morning, everyone.

Good morning and welcome aboard HMS Prince of Wales and welcome to the Pacific Future Forum.

When our flagship here, every one of 65,000 tons of military capability is being put to the service of strengthening our shared security through diplomacy and through deterrence. During an eight-month deployment involving 4,000 of our service personnel, coordinating 12 nations, covering 26,000 nautical miles and visiting 14 countries.

On behalf of Captain Will Blackett and his crew, we’re delighted to host you here for the Pacific Future Forum, a forum which is increasingly influential, setting out, as you do, a mission, and I quote, dedicated to strengthening the defence, security, technology and trading relationships between like-minded democracies.

I’m really grateful on your behalf to everyone who has helped put together this two-day forum.

I’m grateful to them and I’m proud that we’re able to host you here in Tokyo. For the first time on a foreign carrier alongside in Tokyo Bay, and that honour reflects the deepening defence partnership between Japan and the UK.

Before I turn to the future, I want to just reflect on the past, as we have this month following the commemorations around the world to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Because 80 years on, we honour the memory of some 60,000 souls lost.

We reflect on the untold suffering of many more.

And especially, we join in thanks that our two nations have rediscovered friendship.

The importance of that was reminded to me yesterday when Minister Nakatani and I laid wreaths at the Chidorifaguchi Cemetery.

It was also very powerful two weeks ago when I attended the UK National Service of Commemoration at the Arboretum.

I was sat alongside one of the veterans who spoke during that service alongside his great-granddaughter.

He spoke in remembrance of his fallen by saying this:

I speak not as a hero, but as someone who witnessed the price of freedom. We must look to the future”, he said.

We must ensure that the next generation remember our sacrifices so that they can strive for a more peaceful future.

And in many ways, that is the challenge at the heart of the Pacific Forum’s purpose — that is at the heart of your discussions over these next two days.

To better protect the generations of tomorrow, we strengthen the alliances of today.

As Prime Minister Ishiba said at the weekend, aboard this very ship, he said the levels of partnership now between Japan and the UK are unprecedented.

And when he and I met yesterday, we reflected together on the fact that our two nations are now in a golden age of defence cooperation.

From future fighter jets to joint exercises, from naval cooperation to cyber resilience.

Japan is the UK’s closest security ally in Asia, and I know Japan sees Britain as its closest security partner in Europe.

And just as we set out in June, when we published the Strategic Defence Review, this relationship is vital to regional, it’s vital to global, security.

Because the security of the Indo-Pacific is simply indivisible from the security of the Euro-Atlantic.

And this carrier strike route deployment is the operational demonstration of this truth.

A deployment of firsts.

For the first time in recent weeks, Japanese destroyers have provided security to Royal Navy ships and RAF aircraft during exercises.

For the first time in recent days, a British F-35 fighter has landed on the flight deck of a Japanese ship, JS Kaga.

For the first time in the coming weeks, Japanese F-15s will deploy to Europe, based in the UK.

But our partnership goes beyond the seas and the skies.

Our armed forces continue to train together, and the UK is proud to be the first European force to exercise with Japan on Japanese soil.

And in cyber, our two nations have collaborated in one of the largest international cyber defence exercises outside the US.

That’s a relationship that we will deepen still further in the months ahead.

So in every domain, we’re putting in the hard work now so that if ever we are called on to work together in a time of crisis, we know we can. And so do potential adversaries.

Just as our armed forces operate together, our industries will build together.

Times change.

The control of the skies will always belong to those who can adapt first.

And make no mistake, our adversaries are rapidly designing the capabilities specifically to counter our strengths.

So the Global Combat Air Programme is how we’ll maintain our advantage.

A flagship example of a capability partnership — strengthening alliances, strengthening security — both in the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.

And I hope you see this as a powerful signal of the UK government’s determination to bring partners together from different global regions.

And I hope you also see it as it is, a programme also of firsts.

The first time that the UK has worked with a nation outside of Europe on such a programme.

The first time that Japan has partnered with other nations on such a programme.

And GCAP grew out of our common assessment of threats, our respect for each other’s technology, and our shared imperative and timeline for introducing the next generation of capability.

Our shared aim is that GCAP becomes an international standard for how nations pool their resources for greater security and for greater prosperity.

And you will hear over the next two days more about this, but the government and industry teams from the UK, from Japan and from Italy are making real progress now in realising those ambitions.

We set up the inter-government organisation led in Reading by a Japanese CEO, underpinned by treaties passed in all three of our parliaments.

Edgewing, our joint industrial venture, has now stood up — bringing the aerospace leaders from all three nations together in a single joint company venture.

Our task as three ministers now by the end of the year is to ensure that we can agree the first GCAP international contract — another important step in driving the delivery of the design and development phase and allowing them to get towards manufacturing.

Whilst building a supersonic stealth fighter is by nature a long-term project, economic benefits are already being felt in all three nations.

So in the UK, we’ve invested a further billion pounds this year in our future combat programme. It already employs four and a half thousand people, and we expect GCAP to create thousands of new jobs in all three nations.

So whilst it’s first and foremost about ensuring our three nations can police the skies over the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic — to ensure they keep our people safe for a generation to come — one of the greatest strengths that many of you in this room know better than anyone else, one of the greatest strengths of the defence sector, is often the instruments that we design to provide a combat or battlefield advantage become the foundation for wider progress in society.

And so GCAP will also provide huge potential opportunities for our finest minds to work at the forefront of autonomy, space, quantum technology — potential and possibilities not just for security, but for our societies as well.

And I want you to see our total UK commitment to developing GCAP, our continued effort to operate ever closer with Japan’s Self-Defence Force, and I want you to see the deployment of our carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific as demonstrating what we declared as a government, we set out in the strategic view, of a policy that is NATO first, but not NATO only.

Because as we see the threats, more serious, less predictable, than at any time since the Cold War — Ukraine demonstrates what Jens Stoltenberg argued years ago:

What happens in the Indo-Pacific, he said, matters in the Euro-Atlantic.

And what happens in the Euro-Atlantic matters in the Indo-Pacific.

And right now in Ukraine, our adversaries are proving just that — autocratic states working more closely together.

So Russia, in the hope of breaking the will of the sovereign Ukrainian people, has called on North Korea for troops, Iran for drones, and China for technology, equipment, and weapons components.

Here, 8,000 kilometres from Kyiv, the Japanese people understand this, and have stood as true friends from the start to Ukraine.

We’re grateful, and we pay tribute to that support.

They’ve been providing assistance alongside NATO.

They’ve been supporting the coalition of the willing.

So when we say “NATO first, but not NATO only,” this is more than a slogan.

It reflects the growing threats that we face today — threats that don’t respect regions or national borders: cyber attacks, disinformation, attacks on democracy, hostile action in space.

And for the UK, some of our closest, most like-minded partners in countering these threats are to be found in the Indo-Pacific — just as some of our most exciting technological partnerships are forged here too.

And it is only through working together that we will strengthen regional security, that we will reinforce a lasting stability— the stability on which our economic growth, our social resilience, and the future of our countries depend.

For us, our allies are our strategic strength.

And so in a more dangerous world, in a new era of threats, we’re deepening our defence cooperation with good partners like Japan — bilaterally, industrially, and through NATO.

And just as the threats we face are real, to make deterrence real, we must work more closely together.

That imperative is right at the heart of the purpose of the Pacific Future Forum.

So in summary, that is why the presence of the Prince of Wales here in Tokyo is not just symbolic — it’s strategic.

It’s building on the UK’s partnerships and commitments across the region.

Our naval presence provided by HMS Tamar and HMS Spey — helping to uphold freedom of navigation, enforcing sanctions, providing humanitarian assistance.

Our military presence in Singapore, Brunei.

Our joint exercises with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore — as part of the historic Five Power Defence Arrangements.

And our contribution to ASEANs expert working groups in the dialogue partnership.

Each deployment, each exercise, each relationship, each industrial or technological collaboration strengthens stability, reinforces security.

And as our two nations prove — when we double down, when we invest in those partnerships — those partnerships are the source of our ultimate strength.

So thank you once again to Minister Nakatani, who will speak to the forum later today.

Thank you to everyone in Japan who has made this visit possible.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to our defence partnership.

Our relationship with Japan is one that we hold dear.

And in the words of His Majesty, the Emperor:

We are friends like no other.

And I look forward to strengthening that partnership, that friendship, in the years ahead.
Thank you.

The speech made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, at the RUSI Land Warfare Conference held at Church House, Westminster in London on 17 June 2025.

David, thank you very much. Thank you all for inviting me here.

Under your leadership, this institution RUSI really has gone from strength to strength in your last five years despite your first two years as Chair being that very tough period for us all during Covid.

So David let me thank you this afternoon, to Rachel and the hugely impressive team here at RUSI, not just for this conference, for hosting us for these two days but also for serving as not just simply a long-standing critical friend to government – yes long standing but much needed critic of the government.

And really in the way that the world changing the way as it is and defence is changing in the way that it is – I think we need this institution’s expert independent voice to be heard more loudly now than ever.

So thank you for the work that you have done and thank you all of you involved in RUSI.

At the outset now perhaps I can take the opportunity to say a few words on the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

Because this is a dangerous moment for the entire region. And we as a government have been consistent, clear and strong.

We have always supported Israel’s right to security and we have had grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme.

And I repeat the call on all sides to show restraint this afternoon.

Because a diplomatic resolution rather than military action is the only route to lasting stability in the region.

And in terms of our UK operational response, the military assets including the additional Typhoon jets announced by the Prime Minister have begun arriving – the first wave have already arrived and the rest will follow in coming days.

And I have ensured that force protection is now at its highest level.

So this operational response is to protect our personnel, it is to reassure our partners and it is to reinforce the urgent need for de-escalation.

Returning to today, to your programme – I remember last year’s Land Warfare Conference – I think it was one of if not the first public speech I gave after having the privilege of taking up this job. And it came just a week after the Prime Minister kicked off the Strategic Defence Review.

And I told you in this room actually back then that it would be a Review that would be done with the Army, and not to the Army.

And I hope with General Walker giving the SDR what he called his “unequivocal support and commitment” this morning – you’re confidence that we met that promise.

And some of you in the room here, you were part of dozens of submissions that we had from serving personnel, for which we are really grateful.

And not just the submissions including formal discussions with senior Army officers but actually I hope you see in the SDR the proposals in the core submissions from the Army have been accepted in the review by the reviewers almost in full.

And this is an SDR that will transform our Army – transform it to meet the challenges and threats in the decades ahead.

And it will do so by combining the future technology of drones and AI with the heavy metal of our tanks and artillery to the deter threats we may face.

Many of you have been around for long enough to have seen previous reviews. Many of you have been around for long enough probably to be thinking – well great promises but we’ve seen so many of these reviews put on shelves and gather dust next to the previous reviews that came before.

The point that I stress today is that for me and everyone in defence, the ten months of hard work to get to the point where we have launched the SDR is just the start not the end of the work that is needed.

So our adversaries aren’t hanging around and nor are we.

And have a plan now in government to make Britain safer, secure at home and strong abroad.

2.6 per cent of GDP on defence in 2027 as the Chancellor confirmed last week in the Spending Review. This gives us the means to implement the SDR.

And the SDR is a review, a defence review – the first for a generation – which aims to build out rather than hollow out our armed forces.

A review that is backed by an ambition to hit 3 per cent of GDP spending in the next parliament. And a review that is matched and underwritten by the prospect of a decade of rising defence investment.

It will bring big changes to our armed forces.

You discussed it this afternoon with that top level distinguished panel – the SDR will see an integrated force – greater than the sum of its parts – but that does not mean a lessening the importance of the Army.

The SDR made promises of an Army that is larger in size and greater in lethality.

And today, I’ll speak about how I’ll play a role as Defence Secretary alongside General Roly to deliver on those pledges.

Let me start with what matters most to me and that’s our people.

To maintain advantage, every Army must evolve with the times. Technologies emerge. Tactics advance but the one thing that stays constant is the need for talent.

Ultimately, it is people who win, it’s the people who prevail, it’s the people who win wars.

The British Army has in its ranks some of the finest soldiers the world over.

But for too long, our Army has been asked to do more with less.

And like most things in life, building up is actually harder than cutting down.

But we are acting already to stem the losses that we’ve seen long term in recent years, and while reversing that long-term decline can’t be done overnight – that will take time – but I want the number of full-time soldiers to rise to at least 76,000 into the next parliament.

And let me set out some of the elements of how we will do that.

First, I really don’t recognise the claims that you often hear in the media and from the commentators that somehow the next generation don’t want to fight for their country.

In the last decade, one million young people applied to join the military. They are the very lifeblood of the Army.

Every day, young men and women stepping forward in search of the opportunity, the sense of purpose and pride, in search of something greater than they have in their lives at present.

And yet of that million, more than 3 in 4 simply gave up in large part because of long delays in the process.

They gave up before they were even recruited or rejected.

So in response, we’ve set new targets, we’ve scrapped old policies and red tape and we’re starting to turn those numbers around.

And my pledge to you is that the Army will have the pipeline of people it needs to defend our nation and our nation’s interests.

And just as we’ll encourage more people to join, we’ll persuade more people to stay. And we’ll do that by renewing the nation’s contract with those who serve and the families who support them as they serve.

Better pay, better housing, better conditions, better kit.

The thing that really has troubled me most in the last month was the Continuous Attitude Survey that found that only 1 in 4 service personnel believe that they’re valued by society.

That has plummeted over the last 12 years. The best way to prove to those people, to our personnel that the nation cares is not just what we say but it’s what we do.

And that’s why it was important to me that last year we were able to award our service personnel the biggest pay increase for over 20 years. It was important to me that we could follow it up this year with another above inflation pay award.

Homes with mould, damp and leaks are a betrayal of their service and we’re starting to put that right.

We’ve bought back now 36,000 military family homes from a private funds into public control. We’ve pledged an extra £1.5 billion to put into military family homes in this Parliament as part of £7 billion investment that will go into military accommodation in the next few years.

We’re introducing a new Consumer Charter – the basics that any of us would expect from any home that we occupy, any home that we rent – we’re doing that for our forces families.

We’re extending Wraparound Childcare to those deployed overseas just to help make family life a little easier.

We’ve legislated in Parliament for a new independent voice – the Armed Forces Commissioner that will help improve service life and I’m happy to say that from last week applications for that post are now open.

Me, the ministerial team, General Roly, we all share a determination to make life better for members of our armed forces and the families that support them.

And in doing so, we will – for the first time in a generation – grow the British Army.

Warfighting and the welfare of our forces are not in conflict or competition. They go hand in hand.

We cannot have our soldiers worried about a broken boiler or how they’ll make ends meet if we want the Army’s organising principle to be – as General Roly said – “warfighting at scale”.

And in a more dangerous world, this is a shift we simply have to make.

Before I go further, I want to note that at least 15 people were killed and more than 100 injured last night in Kyiv, a grim reminder that whatever else is happening in the world, Putin’s war still rages on eastern flank of Europe.

Ukrainians are continuing to fight with huge courage – civilians and military alike and I just say to you that the UK and the UK Government’s commitment to those Ukrainians remains as steadfast as it has been from the start and we will stand with the Ukrainian people for as long as it takes.

We will stand with them and we will work with them and for the purposes of this conference we will also learn from them.

Because the revolutionary technology in Ukraine – helped by the UK – has been the drone.

So lethal in force, they’re now killing more people than artillery – the first time Offensive Support has been overtaken since World War One.

So systemic to strategy and tactics as the invention of the machine gun or to the heavy armour specialists in the audience – the tank.

So effective in targeting, that the Russian military has swapped armour for motorbikes to evade detection.

And so maximum in impact that we saw a little over 100 drones destroy or damaged more than 50 of Putin’s strategic bombers in Operation Spider Web.

This is why the SDR calls for that tenfold increase in the Army’s lethality. Credit must go to Roly for his foresight and his ambition in setting that out.

He set the ambition. He set the vision. And I’m backing that as Defence Secretary with the funding to deliver it.

So today I’m announcing and confirming that we from this year will be investing more than £100 million in new, initial funding to develop land drone swarms.

Our Autonomous Collaborative Platforms will fly alongside the Apache attack helicopters and enhance the Army’s ability to strike, survive and win on the battlefield.

You’ve seen the vision in the SDR, you’ve heard the plan from Roly earlier – this will be a game-changer. It will be applying the lessons from Ukraine in a world-leading way, it will be putting the UK at the leading edge of innovation in NATO.

Alongside our ability to move forward with greater combat mass, we’re investing in AI and drones to strike further and faster through Project ASGARD.

In well under a year, we’ve developed and procured these recce-strike systems that allow our soldiers to connect the sensor to the shooter in record beating time.

These are systems already tested. These are systems that in part are already in Estonia. These are systems that we plan to deploy in 2027 as part of NATO’s Steadfast Defender Exercise.

The lessons from ASGARD will inform our new integrated Digital Targeting Web as recommended in the SDR. The SDR has challenged us to develop this over the next two years. And so in order to meet that challenge, I’ve also made the commitment that we will back that by £1 billion of new investment.

Finally, this isn’t just about the world-leading programmes that I’ve mentioned, but it’s also about embedding drones into our training, in our psyche and in our culture.

And by doubling spending to £4 billion on uncrewed systems in this Parliament through the SDR and by establishing a new Drone Centre we’ll accelerate the use of uncrewed air systems across all of our services.

The Army will train thousands of operators on First Person View, Surveillance and Dropper drones.

This summer, the Army will begin the rollout of 3,000 strike drones followed by a further rollout of over 1,000 surveillance drones.

And we will equip every Section with a drone.

And together, this work marks a crucial shift in our deterrence. It sends a clear signal to anyone seeking to do us or our allies harm and sets the pathway to an Army that can indeed be ten times more lethal.

Let me draw if I may to an end by saying that the British Army has always been a force feared by our adversaries and respected by allies.

And in this new era of threat, we will be asking more of our soldiers. And it is only right our soldiers expect more of their government.

In return, they’ll be members of an Army with better pay, with better housing, with better kit. They’ll be members of an Army greater in lethality, greater in size.

An Army that makes Britain safer – secure at home and strong abroad.

The speech made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 6 June 2025.

Bonjour tout le monde.

81 years ago today, tyranny bowed when the courage of free men forced open the gates of liberation.

Within hours, the people of Sainte-Mère-Église had control of their destiny again.

Within three months, the Tricolor once again flew from the Eiffel Tower.

Within a year the continent of Europe would once again know peace.

It is a rare thing to have changed the course of history, but that is what the veterans of Normandy did.

They fought for a future that they knew they may not live to see.

And through their valour we inherited a free world.

We are humbled to be in your company. We give eternal thanks for your sacrifice.

And I’m also grateful to the Comité du Débarquement, as the stewards of our shared history. With every year that passes, your work becomes more important.

And 81 years on, we return to Normandy to ask:

What principle guided 150,000 souls across that body of water?

What belief compelled the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st to thunder through the skies above us?

What force drove the ‘Ivy’ men to charge these dunes at Utah?

…all to liberate people they had never known in a land they had never seen.

And that is the power of unity, the power of friendship, the faith in democracy and freedom.

And through the sacrifices made on these shores we learn the true strength of alliances.

The strength of our war-fighters standing together as they continue to do on operations today – personnel from Manchester, from Marseilles, from Minnesota.

The strength of our nations standing together in NATO to deter current conflicts and adversaries.

The responsibility to safeguard D-Day’s legacy and freedom rests today with us.

So, let us give everlasting honour to our Normandy veterans… for whom the Longest Day never ended.

And let us find the strength to carry on in their names and to carry forward their cause.

Thank you.

The statement made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 2 June 2025.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the strategic defence review. I have laid the full 130-page review before the House, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so and to make this statement on our first day back from the recess.

The world has changed, and we must respond. The SDR is our Plan for Change for defence: a plan to meet the threats that we face, a plan to step up on European security and to lead in NATO, a plan that learns the lessons from Ukraine, a plan to seize the defence dividend resulting from our record increase in defence investment and boost jobs and growth throughout the United Kingdom, and a plan to put the men and women of our armed forces at the heart of our defence plans, with better pay, better kit and better housing. Through the SDR, we will make our armed forces stronger and the British people safer.

I thank those who led the review, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, General Barrons and Dr Fiona Hill,

“a politician, a soldier and a foreign policy expert”,

as they describe themselves in their foreword. They, alongside others, have put in a huge effort. This is a “first of its kind”, externally led review, the result of a process in which we received 8,000 submissions from experts, individuals, organisations and Members on both sides of the House, including the shadow Defence Secretary. I thank them all, and I thank those in the Ministry of Defence who contributed to this SDR. It is not just the Government’s defence review, but Britain’s defence review. The Government endorse its vision and accept its 62 recommendations, which will be implemented.

The threats that we face are now more serious and less predictable than at any time since the end of the cold war. We face war in Europe, growing Russian aggression, new nuclear risks, and daily cyber-attacks at home. Our adversaries are working more in alliance with one another, while technology is changing the way in which war is fought. We are living in a new era of threat, which demands a new era for UK defence. Since the general election we have demonstrated that we are a Government dedicated to delivering for defence. We have committed ourselves to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war, with an extra £5 billion this year and 2.5% of GDP in 2027, and the ambition to hit 3% in the next Parliament. However, there can be no investment without reform, and we are already driving the deepest reforms of defence in 50 years. Those reforms will ensure clearer responsibilities, better delivery, stronger budget control and new efficiencies worth £6 billion in this Parliament, all of which will be reinvested directly in defence.

Our armed forces will always do what is needed to keep the nation safe, 24/7, in more than 50 countries around the world; but in a more dangerous world, as the SDR confirms, we must move to warfighting readiness, and warfighting readiness means stronger deterrence. We need stronger deterrence to avoid the huge costs, human and economic, that wars create, and we prevent wars by being strong enough to fight and win them. That is what has made NATO the most successful defence alliance in history over the last 75 years. We will establish a new “hybrid Navy” by building Dreadnought, AUKUS submarines, cutting-edge warships and new autonomous vessels. Our carriers will carry the first hybrid airwings in Europe. We will develop the next generation Royal Air Force with F-35s, upgraded Typhoons, sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme jets and autonomous fighters to defend Britain’s skies and to be able to strike anywhere in the world, and we will make the British Army 10 times more lethal by combining the future technology of drones, autonomy and artificial intelligence with the heavy metal of tanks and artillery.

For too long, our Army has been asked to do more with less. We inherited a long-running recruitment crisis, following 14 years of Tory cuts to full-time troops. Reversing the decline will take time, but we are acting to stem the loss and aiming to increase the British Army to at least 76,000 full-time soldiers in the next Parliament. For the first time in a generation, we have a Government who want the number of regular soldiers to rise. This Government will protect our island home by committing £1 billion in new funding to homeland air and missile defences, creating a new cyber-command to defend Britain in the grey zone, and preparing legislation to improve defence readiness.

As Ukraine shows, a country’s armed forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind them, so this SDR begins a new partnership with industry, innovators and investors. We will make defence an engine for growth to create jobs and increase prosperity in every nation and region of the UK. Take our nuclear enterprise. We will commit to investing £15 billion in the sovereign warhead programme in this Parliament, supporting over 9,000 jobs. We will establish continuous submarine production through investments in Barrow and Derby that will enable us to produce a submarine every 18 months, allowing us to grow our nuclear attack fleet to up to 12 submarines and supporting more than 20,000 jobs. On munitions, we will invest £6 billion in this Parliament, including in six new munitions factories and in up to 7,000 new long-range weapons, supporting nearly 2,000 jobs. The lives of workers in Barrow, Derby and Govan, where the Prime Minister and I were this morning, are being transformed not just by this defence investment but by the pride and purpose that comes with defence work. In the coming years, more communities and more working people will benefit from the defence dividend that this SDR brings.

Ukraine also tells us that whoever gets new technology into the hands of their armed forces the fastest will have the advantage, so we will place Britain at the leading edge of innovation in NATO. We will double investment in autonomous systems in this Parliament, invest more than £1 billion to integrate our armed forces through a new digital targeting web, and finance a £400 million UK defence innovation organisation. To ensure that Britain gains the maximum benefit from what we invent and produce in this country, we will create a new defence exports office in the MOD, driving exports to our allies and driving growth at home.

The SDR sets a new vision and a new framework for defence investment. The work to confirm a new defence investment plan, which will supersede the last Government’s defence equipment plan, will be completed in the autumn. It will ensure that our frontline forces get what they need, when they need it. The plan will be deliverable and affordable, and it will consider infrastructure alongside capabilities. It will seize the opportunities of advanced tech, and seize the opportunities to grow the British economy.

As we lose the national service generation, fewer families across this country will have a direct connection to the armed forces, so we must do more to reconnect the nation with those who defend us. As the SDR recommends, we will increase the number of cadets by 30%, introduce a voluntary “gap year” scheme for school and college leavers, and develop a new strategic reserve by 2030. We must also renew the nation’s contract with those who serve. We have already awarded the biggest pay increase in over 20 years and an inflation-busting increase this year, and now I have announced that we will invest £7 billion of funding during this Parliament for military accommodation, including £1.5 billion of new money for rapid work to deal with the scandal of military family homes.

This SDR is the first defence review in a generation for growth and for transformation in UK defence. It will end the 14 years of the hollowing out of our armed forces. Instead, we will see investment increased, the Navy expanded, the Army grown, the Air Force upgraded, warfighting readiness restored, NATO strengthened, the nuclear deterrent guaranteed, advanced technology developed, and jobs created in every nation and region of this country. The strategic defence review will make Britain safer, more secure at home and stronger abroad.

The statement made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 22 May 2025.

Thank you, Prime Minister.

As the world becomes more dangerous, the Diego Garcia military base becomes more important.

But I want to underline the urgency and uncertainty over the future control of this UK base.

Within weeks, we faced new legal rulings which would weaken the UK’s full operational sovereignty over this base, and within just a few years, this irreplaceable military and intelligence base would become inoperable.

That’s why we have taken action today.

That is why the Prime Minister has signed this treaty today, securing this base for the next 99 years and beyond.

Our allied nations are right behind us and behind this deal – the US, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada.

Others want to see this base closed. They want to see this deal collapse – China, Russia, Iran.

The value of this deal is beyond doubt.

Full control of Diego Garcia for the next 99 years and beyond.

Full control and protection of the electromagnetic spectrum that priceless intelligence; communications, sensors; radar; a strengthened buffer zone so we can control the seas and the skies immediately around Diego Garcia and wider islands up to 100 miles – an effective veto over any developments or hostile activities.

And with the base in jeopardy, no action was no option, and anyone who would argue to abandon this deal would abandon this base.  So let me be clear, the British people and our British forces are safer today and into the future because of this deal.

Thank you.

The statement made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 30 April 2025.

I wish to make a statement to update the House on the action we took last night against a Houthi military target. We did so in collective self-defence and to uphold the freedom of navigation, as Britain has always done.

Yesterday, UK forces conducted a joint operation with US allies against a Houthi military facility in Yemen. Our intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings 15 miles south of Sanaa used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red sea and in the gulf of Aden. Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s, with air refuelling support from RAF Voyager tankers, struck a number of those buildings with Paveway IV precision bombs last night. This action was limited, targeted and devised to minimise the risk to civilian life. Everyone involved in the UK operation has returned to base safely. On behalf of the House, I thank all members of our armed forces involved in this operation and pay tribute to them for their total professionalism and courage.

Yesterday’s operation was carried out alongside the US, our closest security ally. It was conducted in line with both the UN charter and the established UK policy of this Government and the last; you will remember, Mr Speaker, that when Labour was in opposition, it backed the Government when they conducted five separate strikes with the US against Houthi targets.

Yesterday’s attack aligns with four broad objectives. The first is to restore freedom of navigation in the Red sea and the gulf of Aden, the second is to degrade Houthi capability and prevent future attacks, the third is to reinforce regional security alongside allies and partners, and the fourth is to protect our economic security at home. First thing this morning, the Government briefed the shadow Defence Secretary, the hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge); the Speakers of both Houses; the Liberal Democrats’ defence spokesperson, the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire); and the Chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi). I can now tell the House that our initial assessment is that the planned targets were all successfully hit, and we have seen no evidence of civilian casualties.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have been waging a campaign of aggression against international shipping in the Red sea. To date, there have been over 320 attacks; those attacks are illegal and deadly, and we totally condemn them. Maritime routes have been disrupted, sailors have been killed, and commercial ships have been hit and sunk. The Houthis have even targeted aid vessels destined for Yemen itself, as well as military vessels of our allies and partners. Both the Royal Navy and the US navy have been forced into action in the Red sea—last September, I met the crew of HMS Diamond, who shot down a ballistic missile and multiple drones in self-defence during their deployment in the Red sea.

Make no mistake: the Houthis act as an agent of instability across the region. They continue to receive both military and financial backing from Iran, and even Russia has attempted to support the Houthi operations. The aggression in the Red sea and the gulf of Aden is yet another example of how our adversaries are increasingly working together against our interests. As such, I want to be clear that this Government reject any Houthi claims that attacking ships in the Red sea is somehow supporting Gaza. The Houthis were targeting tankers and seizing ships well before the war in Gaza began, and their attacks since have targeted vessels of all nations, so hear me when I say that these attacks do absolutely nothing for the Palestinian people or the push for a lasting peace.

An estimated 12% of global trade and 30% of container traffic passes through the Red sea every year, but the Houthi threat has led to a drastic fall. Levels are down by 55% on what they were in November 2023; the majority of ships now take a 5,000-mile diversion around the Cape of Good Hope, adding a full fortnight to a journey between Asia and Europe and pushing up prices for the goods that British people and others rely on. This cannot continue.

In opposition, I argued that, for what is now 80 years,

“the lion’s share of the responsibility for protecting international freedom of navigation in the Red sea is being shouldered by the Americans, just as the US has been doing across the world”—[Official Report, 24 January 2024; Vol. 744, c. 355.]

Since last month, the US has been conducting a sustained campaign, targeting the Houthis in Yemen to restore freedom of navigation. It moved two carriers into the region, and its recent strikes have destroyed multiple command and control centres, air defence systems, advanced weapons manufacturing sites and advanced weapons storage sites. The US military says that its operations have now degraded the effectiveness of the Houthi attack, reporting that ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69% and one-way drone attacks are down by 55%.

The US continues to be the UK’s closest security ally. It is stepping up in the Red sea, and we are alongside it. Yesterday’s joint operation builds on the broader support that we have provided to the US in the region in recent months. That includes air-to-air refuelling; the use of our important military base, Diego Garcia, for regional security operations; and RAF Typhoons to support the defence of the US carrier strike group, which has been coming under near-daily attack from Houthi missiles and drones.

This Government will always act in the interests of our national and economic security. The UK is stepping up and encouraging allies to do more to protect our common security, just as we are with the eight-month deployment of our carrier strike group to the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific, which started last week. The UK has a long and proud history of taking action to protect freedom of navigation. This illegal Houthi aggression does not just disrupt shipping and destabilise the region; it hits our economy here at home. That is why the Government took this decision. It is why the UK has taken this action to help protect freedom of navigation, reinforce regional stability and strengthen economic security for families across the country. We are determined that we will keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad.

The speech made by John Healey, the Secretary of State for Defence, at the Institute for Government in London on 18 February 2025.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here and thank you for hosting us today.

The Institute for Government, in my book, plays a really important role in Westminster. It helps hold Ministers to account for what we say we’re going to do as part of that bigger mission to securing this country a better government for Britain.

I must say, when I confirmed this event a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have expected such interest in MOD reform, and I’m really grateful for the level of this attendance and presence, both in the room and online.

But I guess the pace of the geopolitical change which you were referring to Hannah, and what we’re seeing right now confirms what I would argue is the need for change within defence too.

As I said on my first day as Secretary of State in the department, when I came through the doors, I’m a Defence Secretary that’s more interested in getting results and global opportunities than headlines, and I guess I’m delivering on that promise, making a speech on defence reform right in the middle of parliamentary recess.

However, the headlines, the wider headlines, and the decisions that we make right now over the coming weeks will not only define the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, but the security of our world for a generation to come, and the nature of government means dealing with these challenges.

In my view, the test of leadership, of political leadership isn’t just about managing the immediate, it’s also about reforming for the future.

We’re in a new era of threat that demands a new era for defence and in the middle of everything else, last week, the new Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the US and I,  made time to discuss the aims we share on defence reform.

This government, our new Labour government, was elected on a mandating one word: change.

We govern on an instruction in one word: deliver.

And as a new government, we’re delivering for defence.

Over these first seven months, we stepped up and speeded up support for Ukraine. We’ve increased defence spending this year by nearly £3 billion, and we’ll set the path to spending 2.5% of GDP in the Spring.

We’ve launched a new Defence Industrial Strategy. We secured a deal to buy back 36,000 military homes to improve conditions for personnel and get better value for the taxpayer.

We’ve given the men and women of our armed forces the biggest pay increase for more than 20 years. We signed the landmark Trinity House agreement with the Germany.

We’ve already progressed the Armed Forces Commissioner bill through the House of Commons to give a strong independent voice to improve service life.

We have in the MOD two major change programmes both launched within the first month of government.

One, the Strategic Defence Review. Two, our Defence Reform program. Each is essential for the other. The Defence Review will reinforce the imperative for Defence Reform. Defence reform is the foundation for being able to implement the Defence Review and for discharging what is our first duty in government.

Exactly a year ago, actually, in February, I gave a speech at Policy Exchange on defence reform in which I outlined, and I said then the need to create a strong defence centre capable of leading Britain meeting the increasing threats we face.

And in a little noticed section of the Labour Party manifesto at the July election, we pledged specific reforms and said strengthening our defences requires stronger leadership, clearer accountability, faster delivery, less waste and better value for money.

By the end of July, I put in place a new team, new leadership, and weekly meeting meetings with me to drive our defence reform programme.

And today, I wanted to offer an update on where we’ve got to and where we are going in the months ahead.

One of the really special things about this job, the special things about this special job are the deeply impressive men and women I meet every day, from the submariners coming home from weeks undersea, to apprentices on Derby’s nuclear reaction production lines, to the NATO HQ team with people in the MOD building that last week pulled together the Ukraine led contact group meeting of 46 nations in the room at one week’s notice.

Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things within a system that very often doesn’t work in the way that we need it to, for an increasingly dangerous world, work in the way that we need it to, to provide our armed forces with what they need to deter, to fight and to win.

First, underpinning it all is the absence of clear, consistent accountability, central to the effectiveness of any organisation. Yet I have been in too many meetings when I ask who’s leading this? Who’s responsible for getting this done? And no one is able to give me a single, clear answer.

Second, while everyone agrees that defence spending needs to increase, it’s not just how much you spend, but it’s how well you spend it. And we’re simply not securing the value for money our armed forces, our economy needs for every defence panel.

We duplicate even the most central tasks. For example, we have eleven separate finance functions, two and a half thousand people doing the same activity in different places, in different ways. And third defence is mired in process and procedure. We’ve added complexity where simplicity is needed.

Procurement, we’ve got a situation where we employ eleven checkers for every one decision maker. So, no wonder it takes an average six years for a large programme simply to get onto contract.

So today, I’m here to declare that investment in defence will be matched by reform.

First, we’re introducing clear points of accountability at every level within UK defence, starting at the top with four new senior leaders, four leaders who report to me as Defence Secretary and my ministerial team at the central point of accountability to the British people and to the British public.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, who, for the first time since this role was created, now commands the service chiefs and will be the head of newly established Military Strategic Headquarters, responsible for force design and war planning across our integrated force.

The Permanent Secretary, our principal accounting officer, who will run a leaner, more agile Department of State with more policy muscle to lead arguments across Whitehall and with allies, we’ll revamp senior roles to elevate those into policymakers with broad portfolios and powerful mandates.

Third, our new Armaments Director, who will fix procurement and drive growth. I’ll come back to the detail of the National Armaments Director in a moment.

Fourthly, our Chief of Defence Nuclear, who will continue to lead and deliver the national Nuclear Enterprise within the recently established ring fence and freedoms.

This new quad will lead a defence which is more concentrated on warfighting, readiness and on deterrence.

They’ll shift the approach as an organisation, which too often has been obsessed with process, to one focus on outcomes, in which information flows quickly, accountabilities are clear, and results are demanding. This new quad will be up and running from the 31st of March.

On finance will match our new accountabilities, making hardware that manages money better to secure better value for money, for the taxpayer, better outcomes for the armed forces.

[Political reference removed]

Instead of the ten current top line budget holders, there will be four new budget holders, one for each of this new quad. We will introduce three new centrally determined financial budgets, each with ministerial oversight, readiness, operations, investment.

The new readiness budget will hold the chiefs of the services to account for how they run their day-to-day spending. This will be done by the Chief of Defence Staff through our new Military Strategic Headquarters. The Military Strategic Headquarters will be responsible for the new operations budget, unencumbered by the excess bureaucracy and the lack of clarity that characterises the way the defence is organised now, and ministers will direct those priorities.

And then finally, our new National Armaments Director will run the single new investment budget, bringing together eight separate procurement budgets across the organisation into one.

This will help cut waste, reduce duplication, it will help ensure that we are buying better what our front-line forces need. In turn, the Armaments Director will acquire owning capabilities which are affordable within the budgets set by Ministers.

These budgets, as with the quad, will have Initial Operating Capability from the end next month, 31st March.

Our new National Armaments Director will fundamentally change how defence works partner with industry, how the defence becomes the engine for driving economic growth.

So sitting alongside the Permanent Secretary, the Chief of Defence Staff, then executing £20 billion-plus budget to build sustain our national arsenal, because at this time, we must rearm Britain, and I see this as a new FTSE 100 company within the MOD tasked, if you like, with getting the very best capabilities needed into the hands of our frontline forces.

Delivering on our Defence Industrial Strategy to create more defence jobs, more defence apprenticeships in every region and nation across the UK. Tasked with driving British exports up and wider, tasked with receiving responsibility for the entire end to end acquisition system for the MOD.

They will save the taxpayer at least £10 billion over the next decade, savings that we would reinvest directly into Britain’s defence. Our interim National Armaments Director will be in post by the end of next month, recruitment for a permanent candidate is already underway.

In conclusion, the world is changing. Defence is changing. Our reform programme represents the biggest shake up of UK defence for over 50 years.

Let me say this. This is a government whose commitment to defence is unshakeable. It’s the foundation for our Plan for Change, for the delivery of our government’s missions, we will match sustained investment with serious reform.

It will mean, growing the economy. It will mean a more muscular defence for a more dangerous world. It will mean, Britain, which is secure, at home, and strong abroad.