Armed Forces ‘£21bn short’
Need to address funding crisis
POLITICS: Britain’s Armed Forces could be almost £21bn short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next 10 years, MPs has warned. They said the Ministry of Defence was not clear about financial risks.
BRITAIN’S ARMED Forces could be almost £21bn short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next 10 years, a scathing report from MPs has warned.
A Public Accounts Committee investigation said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) “simply does not have enough money to buy all the equipment it says it needs” and accused it of not being clear with politicians or the public about the financial risks it faces.
Its report said the “affordability gap” in the MoD’s equipment plan for 2017 to 2027 had worsened since it reviewed it last year, and criticised officials for still being “unable to determine the size” of it accurately.
The most conservative estimate is £4.9bn, rising to a worstcase scenario of £20.8bn more than the 10-year £179.7bn equipment budget, they found. This budget accounts for 40 per cent of the MoD’s planned spending in that period.
The PAC’s 2017 review found a budget shortfall of £7bn.
The report blasted the plan as “not realistic”, with “weaknesses” in controlling costs.
The construction of the next generation of nuclear missile submarines and the F-35 fighter programme were among those singled out for criticism.
Committee chairwoman Meg Hillier said: “It is concerning that the department could find itself more than £20bn short of the funding required to buy the equipment it says it needs.
“The MoD’s inability to better quantify that affordability gap has consequences not just for its confirmed spending plans, but also its ability to prepare for serious challenges in national defence.
“The department must be more rigorous and realistic in its approach to costing its equipment plan.
“It also needs to be more open with Parliament and the public about its finances, commitments and their costs to taxpayers.
“We heard a lot in evidence about the Modernising Defence Programme but I am concerned this may end up adding more costs to what is already an overstretched budget.”
The report, released today, said the biggest concern was over a need to bring forward some of the cost of building the next generation of nuclear missile submarines, the £31bn Dreadnought class, plus its nuclear warheads.
The committee heard evidence that while the cost of the four planned submarines may not increase, some of the money may need to be spent sooner than previously thought, putting extra strain on the budget.
There was also criticism of a lack of transparency over the costs of the F-35 fighter, due to enter service with the RAF this year.
MPs also highlighted a failure to include the cost of buying an entire new class of frigate for the Royal Navy, the F31e, in the original equipment plan in 2017.
That plan was also missing £9.6bn of “additional costs” but the MoD had been unable to say what they were, the report found.
The report also highlighted a lack of “flexibility” in spending that could impact Armed Forces’ ability to combat new threats, because so much money is tied into large-scale long-term projects.
AT A time when global politics is throwing up ever-more serious challenges with deeply uncertain outcomes, the news that the nation’s military is facing a funding crisis is deeply concerning.
With the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks on British streets, the Salisbury poisoning case, the ongoing horror of the Syrian conflict and now the further question marks over the stability of the Middle East raised by Donald Trump’s controversial decision on the Iranian nuclear deal this week, it is eminently clear that the UK needs Armed Forces which are fit for purpose.
However, a new report by an influential group of MPs on the Public Accounts Committee has claimed the Ministry of Defence simply does not have enough money to buy all the equipment it says it needs – and may be as much as £20bn short of what it requires.
The critical report has warned the situation is being exacerbated by a reluctance on the part of the MoD to report transparently to Parliament and the public about the financial risks it faces.
MPs say they are ‘highly sceptical’ that plans designed to modernise the military while cutting costs will actually balance the books in the manner that is hoped.
In these straitened times, a decade on from the global financial crisis which is still having a considerable impact on the public finances, no Government department can expect to be given a blank cheque. But by frankly assessing where things stand, then decisions on where funding should be directed can be made more accurately and urgently.
While it may be politically embarrassing to do so, an honest appraisal is desperately needed – the lives of British servicemen and women, and the citizens they protect at home and abroad, could be unnecessarily put at risk if those on the front line do not have the resources and equipment they require.