Politics Home Article | John Healey Set To Push For More Defence Investment To Stay In Britain

3 min read17 May

Healey plans to make a speech at the Good Growth Foundation (GGF) on Tuesday evening, at which he is expected to argue that increased defence investment in the UK and support for British SMEs must deliver visible benefits for jobs, businesses and local communities, to sustain higher public support for higher military spending.

The Times reported on Friday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is starting a fightback against a potential challenge to his leadership, is expected to approve an £18bn increase in defence spending.

Last week, Healey threw his support behind Starmer to stay on as PM, despite more than 90 Labour MPs calling for him to set out a timetable for his departure, and multiple ministers resigning from government.

The defence secretary’s speech will likely draw from a new report by GGF, a progressive independent think tank, which is set to be published on Monday. The report proposes reforms to the country’s defence industry and connects defence spending to concerns that the public feels in their everyday lives.

The think tank argues that defence is “politically fragile”, drawing on polling and focus groups that show the public does not see defence in itself as a top priority issue.

While 46 per cent of the public say they are more worried about Britain’s defence and security than ten years ago, and that the government should increase defence spending, only 10 per cent rank defence and national security among the top three most important issues facing the country.

Fifty-two per cent would support a major defence skills package, and 46 per cent said they would support ensuring SMEs receive a large share of defence spending. There is also public support for non-core defence spending going towards supporting essential public services (44 per cent), cybersecurity and protection from online attacks (40 per cent), and strengthening border security (39 per cent).

The report makes several recommendations, including proposing a new national Defence Bank that would provide government-backed finance to support British SMEs, a Sovereign Capability Regime which would require foreign defence companies that win large UK military contracts to put money back into the British economy, and a Cyber Crime Resilience Fund.

This report is based on nationally representative polls of 2,070 British adults between November 2025 and February 2026, and two focus groups in November 2025 – one with 2024 Labour Party voters who say they will vote for either the Lib Dems or the Greens at the next general election, and the other with switchers from Labour to Reform UK.

Director of The Good Growth Foundation, Praful Nargund, said: “Most voters support higher defence spending, but when there is a trade-off with essential public services like the NHS, it quickly falls down the pecking order. 

“That makes Britain’s defence settlement politically fragile – and in an increasingly dangerous world, fragile is not good enough.

“We need to hard-wire defence investment into Britain’s long-term resilience: creating enduring routes into work, backing the small businesses that underpin our defence industry and protecting public services from the cyberattacks they already face.”