THERE is a £17 billion “funding black hole” at the centre of Ministry of Defence equipment plans, MPs say.
Boris Johnson will today make a statement in the House of Commons on the findings of the Integrated Review – billed as the most significant overhaul of the UK’s strategic posture since the Cold War.
But on the day of the announcement, the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has blasted defence officials for drawing up a 10-year military equipment and capabilities plan with a £17bn “black hole” at its centre that is absorbing all the additional £16.5bn modernisation cash committed by Johnson in November – and more than that as well.
And MPs on the PAC said additional cost pressures, estimated at more than £20bn are set to hit the MoD.
The committee has called the situation “highly destabilising for defence” and says it “must not continue” any further.
It is calling on the MoD to get its work “under control” and make savings and cuts “before any new strategy can be delivered”.
The committee said: “The MoD remains stuck in a cycle of focusing on short-term financial pressures. It has sought to balance its annual budget by again deferring or descoping the development of capabilities, resulting in poor long-term value for money and the use of all its contingency funds in 2020-21 to help offset funding shortfalls.”
The SNP’s shadow defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald MP said the UK now “slips further behind on the world stage and cements its place as an outlier compared to some of our key allies”, adding: “Rather than diverting money towards vanity projects, such as its obsolete Trident nuclear weapons, the UK Government must focus its efforts towards the modern day threats and challenges we face, and ensure our conventional capabilities and Armed Forces are strengthened.
“The delayed Integrated Review has undoubtedly damaged our ability to develop a proper defence strategy. However, unless the MoD takes these findings seriously and acts now the reality is that the UK’s role and influence will continue to diminish close to home and further afield.”
PAC chair Meg Hillier MP said “debilitating time and budget overruns” have been “eroding our national defence and security for years”.
The cross-party PAC said members are “extremely frustrated by the department’s inability to develop an affordable programme and break the cycle of short-term financial management”, adding: “It is very concerning that the department seems to have resigned itself to there being a degree of inevitability about the financial problems.”
The MoD was approached for comment.
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