UK's defence plans are inadequate, deter investors, says former military chief

By Iain Withers

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Britain's underfunded public defence plans are deterring private investors and driving contractors overseas, a former military chief has told Reuters, amid a row over military spending that led the defence minister to quit on Thursday.

John Healey resigned after a months-long dispute over a long-awaited public defence investment plan, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of a likely leadership challenge.

General Richard Barrons, former head of the Joint Forces Command and an author of a defence review in 2025 that was supposed to inspire the spending plan, told Reuters the investment levels outlined would not keep Britain safe.

Barrons, who also co-chairs the finance industry lobby group TheCityUK's Defence and Resilience Group, said the long-running uncertainty had also driven some defence firms to move operations overseas, while others had gone bust.

"We required the defence investment plan to be out in September last year... Then the gap appeared, and they've (contractors) struggled," Barrons said.

"They absolutely aren't going to do what they expected to do, which is to build factories in the UK to service this demand, because the demand isn't there... What they found is there's no funding from government. There's no 'buy'. There's no prospect of a 'buy'."

Starmer has promised the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, aiming to lift it to 3% of national output in the next parliament. But Healey said in his resignation letter the plan he had seen would increase defence spending to only 2.68% in 2030, when it will already reach 2.6% next year.

"They've been cutting for 35 years. So there isn't anything left. It's not as if they're starting from a good place. They're starting from a terrible place," Barrons added.

'CAVALRY IS NO LONGER COMING'

The retired Army general co-authored a government-backed defence review last year which recommended accelerated spending for modern warfare, citing threats from Russia, nuclear risks and cyberattacks.

Barrons said Britain needed to significantly step up its defence investment in response to President Donald Trump shaking up the world order.

"That idea that the Americans will save us has been blown out of the water by America's own defence strategy. The cavalry is no longer coming."

(Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by John O'Donnell and Gareth Jones)