Northern Ireland secretary condemns Belfast riots as ‘racist thuggery’ after 12 police officers injured – UK politics live

Here is one of the key extracts from the letter.

double quotation mark This new era for defence required further investment through the defence investment plan. The excellent and extensive cross-government work that completed in January – overseen by you, me and the chancellor – confirmed the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defence.

Since then, you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.

This is a double hatchet job. John Healey is criticising Rachel Reeves for being too stubborn to increase defence spending by the amount he wants, and Keir Starmer for being too weak to over-rule her.