Dan Jarvis was appointed to head up the Ministry of Defence last week after John Healey quit with a blast at Keir Starmer for failing to provide enough cash to keep Britain safeDan Jarvis was appointed to head up the Ministry of Defence last week after John Healey quit(Image: AFP via Getty Images)Britain’s new Defence Secretary has said he is “working around the clock” to finalise a long-term military spending plan amid an explosive Government funding row.Dan Jarvis admitted it was a “moment of challenge” as he arrived to meet Nato counterparts in Brussels without a nailed-on plan to fund the nation’s defence. The long-delayed defence investment plan (Dip) was plunged into jeopardy last week when his predecessor John Healey quit with a blast at Keir Starmer for failing to provide enough cash to keep Britain safe.Nato chief Mark Rutte piled pressure on member states on Wednesday to present “clear, concrete and credible plans” to hike defence spending by a crunch summit next month. Mr Starmer last year committed to meet Nato’s target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035 – but has not set out the path to do so.John Healey resigned last week(Image: TOLGA AKMEN/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock)Arriving at the summit, Mr Jarvis said: “It’s very clear to me, as the new defence secretary for the United Kingdom, that this is a moment of challenge. The international security is incredibly challenging, and that’s why this gathering here today is so particularly important.”He later declined to give more details on defence spending plans but said he took his responsibilities “seriously”. He said: “My priority now is to make sure that our armed forces have the resources that they need to do a very difficult job of work that’s being asked of them. I made reference in Parliament the other day about the nature of the threat that we face. The world is a very dangerous place.“It’s my job to make sure that we’ve got the resources to equip our armed forces to do the job that we ask of them, that is a responsibility that I take very seriously, not least because I have stood in their shoes myself.“So I’m working around the clock with my colleagues across Government to make sure that we can get the Dip completed.”Earlier this week, Mr Starmer hinted that there will be no additional cash for in the defence investment plan (DIP) that triggered Mr Healey’s resignation. It is understood that work is being done on the package of measures rather than the overall bill.Mr Jarvis used the summit to unveil Britain’s biggest-ever package of drones for Kyiv, with a pledge to send 150,000 drones, and 350 air defence missiles and radars to the war-torn nation by the end of the year. The move will be funded by £752 million of the £2.26 billion loan to Kyiv, financed by the profits of seized Russian assets.Meanwhile, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth renewed his criticism of Nato and lashed out at allies for “free riding”. Citing the lack of support for the Iran war, he said: “There’s no excuse for that, and that’s not to mention the fact that some countries have yet to show a credible path to meeting their Hague commitments.“Some of Nato’s largest economies, some of our richest countries, allies that are happiest to go on about the rules-based international order and middle powers banding together, still seem to think the era of free-riding is here.”
