Armed Forces minister quits after warning UK is failing soldiers on defence investment

This follows the significant resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey today. Pamela Nash, a ministerial aide in the department, also resigned this evening.

In his letter, Mr. Carns stated: “We ask soldiers to fight for this country. In return, we owe them the equipment to do the job and the loyalty to stand by them when it’s done. We are failing on both counts. The same lack of seriousness is evident in how this country treats those it demands the most from, both in and out of uniform."

He continued: "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 it is now apparent in the most crucial matters."

He added: "I cannot in good conscience stand at the dispatch box and defend a level of investment I know to be inadequate for the task."

Mr. Carns has had a distinguished 24-year military career, including four tours in Afghanistan and receiving the Military Cross in 2011.

His resignation comes an hour after defence ministerial aide Ms. Nash also left her position, criticizing the Government’s "failure to be bold when it matters most."

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the ex-Parliamentary Private Secretary said: "The delays and difficulties securing the necessary funding to progress the Defence Investment Plan have been the latest issue damaging the public’s trust in us. We saw this clearly in last month’s election results. Our Government’s successes are consistently overshadowed by mistakes and the failure to be bold when it matters most."

In his scathing resignation letter, Mr. Healey earlier today accused the Prime Minister of not standing up to the Treasury, which he claimed was unwilling to commit the funds needed to defend the nation. Ministers have been embroiled in a tense battle over how to fund the long-awaited DIP, which is already over six months late.

In his letter, Mr. Healey said the plan, which he reviewed on Monday, "falls well short of what is needed for defense and the country at this dangerous time." This requires the Prime Minister to find a new Defence Secretary just days before leaders of the G7 nations meet next week in Évian-les-Bains, France, and ahead of next month’s crucial NATO summit.