Black hole in defence cash ‘is heading for £20bn’

MIlItAry plans to buy weapons and ships over the next decade are unaffordable and defence chiefs will probably have to scrap major projects, according to an official report.

the Ministry of defence’s ten-year equipment plan has a funding black hole of at least £4.9billion and this could surge to as much as £20.8billion, Whitehall’s spending watchdog found.

the national Audit office said that unless urgent action was taken, defence chiefs would end up delaying projects or scrapping them altogether. this would risk undermining the armed forces’ operational capability, it added.

the report warned of a cycle of over-committed plans and short-term cuts that have led to poor value for money and less funding available to support frontline military activities.

Ministers set aside £179.7billion for equipment between 2017 and 2027, an increase of £2billion from the previous allocation.

But the nAo said the plan was unrealistic because it failed to include a string of costs

‘Not a sensible way of looking after defence’

including an extra £1.3billion for five royal navy frigates.

the rising costs of ongoing programmes were also omitted, including the bills for the dreadnought and Astute class submarine projects that had risen by £941million in a year.

the report warned: ‘unless the department takes urgent action to close the gap in affordability, it will find that spending on equipment can only be made affordable by reducing the scope of projects, delaying them, or cancelling them altogether.’

labour MP Meg hillier, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, urged the Mod to come up with a ‘realistic plan’, saying scrapping projects ‘is not a sensible way of looking after our national defence’.

defence procurement minister guto Bebb acknowledged ‘an imbalance between cost and budget’ but said the Mod’s modernising defence programme would consider how the plan could be delivered in a ‘sustainable’ way.