Britain's Minister of Defense, Dan Jarvis looks toward the media as he arrives in Downing Street, London, Friday, June 12, 2026. Dan Jarvis will not be given any more money to spend on Britain’s armed forces, No.10 sources have confirmed.
Jarvis took over as defence secretary following John Healey’s dramatic resignation last week.
He said he was quitting because Keir Starmer was “unable” and Rachel Reeves was “unwilling” to provide enough cash to properly implement the government’s new Defence Investment Plan.
It is understood that the Treasury is only willing to release £13.5 billion – less than half what Healey had asked for.
At the weekend, Jarvis insisted he will make sure the UK’s armed forces get “precisely what they need”.
But No.10 sources confirmed on Monday that no extra money will be made available for the new defence secretary.
That is despite culture secretary Lisa Nandy suggesting that cabinet minister were being asked to come up with more cuts from their own budgets to spend on defence.
She told the BBC that Starmer had “been clear with every single one of us in the cabinet that we need to find more money for defence”.
Nandy said: “I can only tell you as somebody who is actively involved in these discussions that these discussions are happening in real time.
“We have a new defence secretary ... and I know he wouldn’t have taken the job unless he felt that we could meet this moment, and we are working together constructively to achieve that.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the PM should resign if he cannot find more money to spend on defence.
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