Al Carns resigns as armed forces minister over funding row

Armed forces minister Al Carns has resigned from the government hours after the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey.

Carns, tipped to be a potential leadership contender, had said that the Defence Investment Plan was “not fit for purpose” and in a resignation letter called for a “new way of governing”.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Carns said: “I have said that there are issues facing this department that do not lend themselves to easy answers, and that there needs to be agreement throughout the government about the scale of the challenges we face. It has become clear to me that the change I pushed for is not going to come. Given the situation, I have decided to resign as minister for the armed forces.

“While I had no hand in the Defence Investment Plan, that distance does allow me to say plainly that it is not built for the threat we face. It is neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded. We are asking our Armed Forces to operate in a more dangerous world on a budget written for a calmer one.

“I have sat in rooms, seen the assessments and spoken to the commanders who will be asked to do more with less, and I cannot in good conscience stand at the dispatch box and defend a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task. A serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced.

“The machinery of government itself has been left to decay. Decisions that should take days, take months. Departments fight each other instead of the problem. Officials and ministers who know the truth are not always rewarded for telling it. We are trying to govern a more dangerous world with processes designed for a calmer one, and the gap is now showing in the things that matter most.

“National resilience is about more than defence in the narrow sense. A strong country is not simply one with capable armed forces. It is one where working people feel economically secure, public services function, energy is resilient, communities are stable and young people can see a future worth working towards.

“If my resignation accelerates the transition towards resolution, then the impact will far outweigh the act. We need a new way of governing and we need it now.”

We owe those who serve the UK the kit to do the job and the loyalty to stand by them when it’s done. We are failing on both.

I’ve spent my whole time in government making that case. Number 10 will not listen, so I am resigning as Minister for the Armed Forces.

Letter to the PM… pic.twitter.com/HDCIOcVsA5

— Al Carns (@AlistairCarns) June 11, 2026

Carns, who first entered Westminster as MP for Birmingham Selly Oak in 2024, previously served in the Royal Marines as a colonel. He was appointed veterans minister after the general selection, before becoming armed forces minister in the government reshuffle last September.

His resignation comes hours after John Healey resigned from the cabinet as defence secretary, claiming the proposed Defence Investment Plan “falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”.

Two other MPs, Rachel Hopkins and Pamela Nash, have also resigned as PPSs.

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