Fears that Britain will lack the cash to invest in new military equipment and end the scandal of shoddy accommodation for members of the armed forces and their families are laid bare in a hard-hitting report. The soaring costs of Britain’s nuclear deterrent may mean the country will lack funds to invest in conventional equipment and improve military housing, according to a powerful cross-party group of MPs.
The public accounts committee says the forecast costs for the nuclear programme for the decade from 2023-24 onwards have increased by £10billion to approximately £128billion. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs, the group, warned of funding being “sucked away from other vital areas”.
Today’s report warns “increasing nuclear costs may restrict the money available for conventional equipment and other important requirements, such as improving poor accommodation which is crucial in addressing the military’s recruitment and retention problems”.
The warning comes on the heels of the Government’s announcement it will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, with the ambition of increasing it to 3% in the next Parliament.
The MPs stress the importance of tackling poor housing, saying this is “crucial in addressing the military’s recruitment and retention problems”.
The recent Strategic Defence Review warned: “Poor recruitment and retention, shoddy accommodation, falling morale, and cultural challenges have created a workforce crisis.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is blasted for a lack of transparency about its “equipment plan” and how it plans to pay for its “military ambitions”.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs the committee, warned a “critical analysis of our nation’s defence plans has been denied for two years now”.
He said: “In the context of continuing geopolitical uncertainty, this continued delay in providing figures for public scrutiny is a truly unacceptable state of affairs.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Through the recently published Strategic Defence Review, we will make Britain secure at home and strong abroad, backed by the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War. As a new Government elected last year, we are fully committed to parliamentary scrutiny of our spending plans.
“The new Defence Investment Plan will be published in the autumn and detail the delivery of our plans, ensuring they are affordable, beneficial to our armed forces, and maximising the benefits of defence spending to grow the UK economy. This will supersede the old-style Defence Equipment Plan and will be completed in Autumn 2025.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said: “Until Labour are willing to at least get to 3% by 2030, these pledges are not worth the paper they are written on. The world is getting increasingly dangerous, but our armed forces don’t have the backing they need to keep up safe.
“Above all, Labour is moving far too slowly to rearm. Rather than spending billions on the Chagos surrender, they should instead spend it on our armed forces to make sure they have the most modern equipment so they are ready to fight now.”