Britain just shelved a key defence goal. That’s not good for Australia.

August 30, 2026 — 4:30pm

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London: When the British government imploded in June, one key factor was a public dispute between ministers about how much the country could afford to spend on defence.

The goal was so pivotal for the defence secretary at the time, John Healey, that he quit the cabinet in protest when the prime minister, Keir Starmer, would not agree to lift the outlay to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030.

Healey set off a detonation that made the leader look doomed. Starmer resigned 11 days later.

Now, that same target is haunting the government led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham. And it is causing trouble for Healey, who was one of the big winners in the new ministry when he was promoted to chancellor of the exchequer.

His decision is to go soft on the hard target. Healey is going to shelve the 3 per cent goal, according to reporting in The Financial Times and other media. Rather than doing what he thought was so important only six weeks ago, he is sending the matter to a review over the next year.

This exposes Healey to accusations of hypocrisy or weakness, of course, and it is a reminder of the self-serving positioning by ministers in the dying weeks of the Starmer government. But it also highlights a more important truth: changing a few leaders does not solve Britain’s budget mess.

And it is a reminder of the risks for Australia when so many defence projects, including AUKUS, depend on the British defence industry.

On the surface, leaders from Britain and Australia try to show that everything is fine. Healey hosted Deputy........

© The Age