Badenoch demands Healey resign over defence spending plan

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for Chancellor John Healey to resign, saying his Budget failed to provide a clear timetable for raising defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product by 2030. Her criticism focused on a target the government has said it intends to meet, but she argued Healey had not set out when the increase would happen. Speaking in the House of Commons after Healey delivered the Budget, Badenoch said he had failed his own test on defence. She referred to his earlier insistence on a firm timetable and his resignation as defence secretary in June, and said the Budget should have set a date. She accused the government of increasing risks to British personnel, a claim she made as part of her political criticism. Healey said the government would set a target of raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. He said ministers would examine departmental budgets and consider innovative financing, including through public bodies and agreements with allied nations. Badenoch’s objection was that the Budget did not provide the clear path she said Healey had previously demanded. Badenoch also attacked the government’s welfare and fiscal plans, describing the...