John Healey is facing renewed pressure to deliver the defence spending target that led to his resignation as Defence Secretary, amid reports that the Chancellor will provide only a “down-payment” in the Budget.
Mr Healey helped bring down Keir Starmer when he resigned in June, arguing that the Treasury was refusing to provide the funds required to protect the UK.
In his resignation letter, he said the Government needed to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030. That would be significantly higher than the 2.68 per cent currently planned by Sir Keir.
However, The Spectator reports that the Chancellor is not expected to publish a full timetable for reaching the target until next autumn’s spending review. His first Budget is instead likely to include only an initial “down-payment”.
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said Mr Healey was now responsible for the country’s finances but that Britain remained “no closer to hitting the target he said was essential”. He added: “The Chancellor absolutely has to set out his plan for 3 per cent in the Budget – anything less would be a dereliction of duty.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that if Mr Healey “cannot do this job, then he should resign”.
The row comes as new polling shows that almost half of the public would support cutting benefits to release more money for defence spending.
A Savanta survey conducted before Mr Healey’s first Budget next week found that 44 per cent of respondents backed reducing welfare payments so additional funding could be directed to the Armed Forces.
Chancellor John Healey is under pressure to deliver the military spending target that led to his resignation as Defence Secretary
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that if Mr Healey “cannot do this job, then he should resign”
By comparison, 34 per cent opposed cutting benefits to increase the Ministry of Defence budget.
Reducing welfare payments was one of five options presented to voters as a possible way to raise additional funds for defence.
A total of 63 per cent supported cutting foreign aid, while there was limited enthusiasm for increasing borrowing, raising taxes or reducing spending on public services.
Almost half of those surveyed, or 47 per cent, opposed higher government borrowing. Meanwhile, 64 per cent said they did not want taxes increased to pay for a larger defence budget.
Three-quarters of respondents, or 75 per cent, also rejected cuts to public services including the NHS, schools and policing.
Support for reducing foreign aid rose to 81 per cent among people who voted Conservative at the 2024 general election, and to 85 per cent among Reform UK voters.
Welfare cuts were supported by 70 per cent of Conservative voters as a way to increase defence spending, while 64 per cent of Reform voters backed reducing benefits.
That compares with 39 per cent of Labour voters who supported cutting welfare spending to provide more funding for the Armed Forces.
Voters were also asked whether they would personally accept paying more tax to fund a rise in defence spending. Overall, 62 per cent said they were unwilling to do so.
Only 30 per cent said they would be prepared to pay additional tax to HMRC so that more money could be allocated to the military.
When asked about the level of tax they currently pay, 43 per cent think they pay too much tax, while the same proportion say they pay the right amount of tax.
Only 2 per cent say they pay too little tax, while 12 per cent don’t know.
Mr Healey is set to detail how the Government will pay for a £4.7billion hole in current defence spending plans at next week’s Budget.
But he is not expected to lay out a path to spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 – or 3.5 per cent by 2035 – despite him resigning as defence secretary from Keir Starmer’s administration over the issue earlier this year.
Mr Healey is instead expected to wait to do so until a spending review next year.
Earlier this week, Ms Badenoch branded a delay in setting out how defence funding will increase as ‘unconscionable’ amid the threat posed by Russia.
‘If, at this Budget, he does not find the money to get to 3 per cent, John Healey has an awful lot of explaining to do,’ she said.
‘Britain is at risk. John Healey said so himself, and no amount of political difficulty should prevent us from responding to that risk.’
Savanta polled 2,130 UK adults online between 16 and 19 October.
