British Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces Al Carns has resigned from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government, following Secretary of Defence John Healey, citing concerns over the government’s refusal to fund the military.

PULSE POINTS

❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Another defense minister has resigned from British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s crumbling government, following the resignation of the Secretary of Defence.📺 DETAIL: Al Carns, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, has resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government. This follows the resignation of John Healey, the Secretary of Defence, early Thursday. Similar to Healey, Carns heavily criticized the Labour government’s defense strategy, citing inadequate funding for the armed forces and a lack of seriousness in addressing current global threats. In his resignation letter, Carns, a former colonel in the Royal Marines, described the British government’s defense funding plan as “neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded” and accused the government of “asking our Armed Forces to operate in a more dangerous world on a budget written for a calmer one.”💬 KEY QUOTE: “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… A serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced.” – Al Carns, Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and now-former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces.🎯 IMPACT: Carns’ resignation is the second high-profile resignation from the Department of Defence in a day. Several government ministers have resigned in frustration at Keir Starmer’s performance as Prime Minister, particularly following heavy losses to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in local and regional elections in May. Carns’s resignation, just a week before the Makerfield parliamentary by-election (special election), which could see Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham return to the House of Commons as a Labour MP and challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership, suggests wariness about the Starmer regime’s growing instability. Carns had previously been touted as a potential leadership contender, having been described by the British press as a ‘dark horse’ candidate and openly floated the idea himself.

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.

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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

Image by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street.

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