UK wasted £6bn on ditched military kit

Published on Wednesday 30 March 2011 18:10

AT LEAST £6 billion of defence spending has been wasted by pushing through tough cuts to the MoD and scrapping aircraft, ships and armoured vehicles, The Scotsman has learned.

An unpublished memorandum sent to the Commons defence select committee has revealed the seven most costly write-offs resulting from the strategic defence and security review (SDSR).

They include about 3.5bn lost through cancelling the Nimrod replacements and scrapping the planes which had already been built or part-built. Another 1.4bn was written off through the early decommissioning of Harrier jets which had been flown from aircraft carriers.

The third-biggest write-off came from scrapping armoured vehicles, which represented a loss of 431 million. Most of this money was wasted on 600 tanks which are to be withdrawn early from service.

The early withdrawal of four Type 22 frigates, including HMS Cumberland which has been used in the Libya crisis, means a further 340m was written off. Other Royal Navy write-offs include the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels RFA Fort George, at 92m, and RFA Largs Bay, at 108m.

The decommissioning of the last of the old aircraft carriers, Ark Royal, cost 97m.

The 6bn figure is an interim total, and the MoD has previously suggested the total cost could be as high as 12bn.

All the equipment in the document refers to new and unused items or that decommissioned well before schedule as a result of the SDSR.

Details of the write-offs add weight to claims that the SDSR has been "a waste of money" and have fuelled demands that, with Britain involved in the Libyan crisis, a fresh examination of the review should be ordered, less than six months after it was published.

The document provides answers to questions put by the committee to the MoD's permanent under-secretary, Ursula Brennan, which she was unable to answer when she appeared in front of MPs several weeks ago.

• Urgent supplies to troops arrive late

The committee had noted in its original question that an MoD early estimate for the total amount of write-offs was 12bn and had asked for a breakdown of the major items.

The 6bn on aircraft, ships and armoured vehicles were the seven top items already calculated by the MoD, and the document admitted further calculations were needed on the cost of other cuts.

The information has come as MPs on the defence select committee hold an inquiry into the SDSR to consider whether it provides value for money and has succeeded in improving the UK's defence and security.

The Scotsman understands that the official write-offs represent conservative calculations of the cost of building equipment which went unused, in the case of Nimrod, or upgrading older equipment which was then taken out of service ahead of schedule.

In the case of upgrades, the MoD has made a calculation based on the number of years the upgrade was meant to last, compared with amounts per year for the early withdrawal.

The memorandum suggests that further write-offs are still to be calculated and it is also understood that this will increase once decisions are made on the future of bases.

RAF Leuchars in Fife, which is currently the prime target for closure in a bases review, recently had millions spent on upgrading its facilities.

Critics of the government's defence strategy said that the latest revelation raised further questions about the SDSR.

Labour's Dunfermline and West Fife MP, Thomas Docherty, who is a member of the defence select committee, said: "I'm absolutely shocked by the cost of perfectly good defence material simply being sent to scrap or breakers' yards because of this Treasury-driven defence review."He suggested the costs in the document "may be conservative" and hiding a much greater loss, particularly on the scrapping of new Nimrods which never came into service.

Some estimates have suggested that the cancellation of the project, with eight fully or largely built planes, has meant that more than 4bn of taxpayers' money has been wasted needlessly.

Mr Docherty has been arguing for the SDSR to be reopened, and Labour has launched a review. He added: "If there was any demonstration needed why these decisions in the SDSR are wrong, it is recent events in North Africa and the Mediterranean."

But the government continued to argue it had been forced to make cuts because of a "38bn black hole left in the MoD's books" by the previous Labour government.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said he did not "come into the job to make cuts", but had been "left with no choice because of Labour's appalling handling of the economy".

An MoD spokesman said: "Ministers and service chiefs have made clear that the decisions taken in October's SDSR were difficult. However, the severe financial pressures and the urgent need to bring the defence programme into balance meant we could not retain all existing projects, and ultimately this will deliver significant savings."