(Angus) (SNP):...Any one of
the MOD’s headline failures would represent a multi-billion pound
betrayal of the taxpayer, but the Ministry of Defence has a
veritable conveyor belt of these debacles, from Nimrod to
Chinook, through Warrior to AJAX
There will be a lot more said about AJAX tomorrow,
but it really takes the biscuit in terms of absolute
dysfunctional defence procurement. Creative accounting with
rose-tinted projections, which plan for undetermined savings to
accrue to the MOD’s balance sheet at some unspecified point in
the future, is the culture that manifests claims that we will see
the plan come in £4.3 billion under budget—no detail, no plan..
(Islwyn)
(Lab/Co-op):...Concerns have been raised by the National Audit
Office, the Defence Committee and the Public Accounts Committee
about the running of the MOD. Now more than ever, at a time when
European security is most under threat, Ministers must ensure
that the deep-rooted problems in the MOD are urgently addressed.
As the NAO suggests, the Government’s new equipment plan still
fails to ensure that our armed forces will get all the equipment
they need. Sadly, value for money for the British taxpayer is not
being guaranteed. Then, of course, there is the
Ajax-shaped hole at the heart of the British
Army’s future, which I am sure we will hear more about in the
coming days....
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