Military plans for Britain’s Armed Forces have becoming increasingly ‘unrealistic’ because there is not enough money, a damning report warns today.
A Public Accounts Committee investigation found the military could be almost £21billion short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next 10 years.
MPs said the department ‘simply does not have enough money to buy all the equipment it says it needs’.
The report accused the MoD of not being clear with politicians or the public about the financial risks it faces
It warned the gap had consequences for both spending plans and its ability to ‘prepare for serious challenges in national defence’.
The report accused the MoD of not being clear with politicians or the public about the financial risks it faces.
It came as US defence officials piled the pressure on Britain to take defence seriously ahead of a crucial review to be published in the summer.
One official said: ‘The military is worth defending within their own government, which is why I think in America you see the commitment to increasing the budget because it is worth taking care of your own defence.’
A second official said: ‘How can you afford not to? Given the current world environment, can you afford not to be ready?
‘Freedom is like oxygen. If you have freedom you don’t really think about it but if you don’t have freedom it is all you are going to think about.’
The report said the ‘affordability gap’ in the MoD’s equipment plan for 2017 to 2027 had worsened since it reviewed it last year.
It criticised officials for still being ‘unable to determine the size’ of it accurately.
The most conservative estimate is £4.9 billion, rising to a worst-case scenario of £20.8 billion more than the 10-year £179.7 billion 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 £7 billion.
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 chairman Meg Hillier said: ‘It is concerning that the department could find itself more than £20 billion 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.’ She added: ‘It also needs to be more open with Parliament and the public about its finances, commitments and their costs to taxpayers.
The report said the ‘affordability gap’ in the MoD’s equipment plan for 2017 to 2027 had worsened since it reviewed it last year
‘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 on Friday 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 £31 billion 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, which is 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 £9.6 billion 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 like cyber-attacks and artificial intelligence, because so much money is tied into large-scale, long-term projects.
It said the Modernising Defence Programme, announced by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson in January, should explain how it intended to balance long-term capability yet retain ‘sufficient flexibility to respond to changes in the defence landscape’.