Defence funding gap ‘puts UK’s security at risk’

NATIONAL security is at risk of being undermined because of ‘severe pressure’ on the defence budget, senior MPs have told Theresa May.

In a joint letter to the Prime Minister, the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, and the chairman of the Defence Committee, Julian Lewis, expressed concern at the funding situation. It said: ‘We are concerned that new commitments and emerging threats mean the budget will not deliver all that is promised.

‘The existing affordability gap affecting traditional defence equipment and support programmes, combined with the intensification of new threats such as cyber, chemical and biological attacks, risks undermining UK national security as well as our ability to play an effective role in the world.

‘We are concerned that the modernising defence programme will not be able to deliver the additional capabilities required to respond to new threats ... within the existing budget.

‘The very real effects of inadequate funding can be seen in the extremely worrying decline in morale amongst our armed forces.’

The letter highlighted the Public Accounts Committee’s findings that the ten-year defence equipment plan faces an funding shortfall of at least £4.9billion.