Today’s report from the National Audit Office (NAO) finds that the Equipment Plan remains unaffordable for the fourth successive year, with the Ministry of Defence estimating that equipment costs will be £7.3 billion higher than its budget between 2020 and 2030.

The National Audit Office (NAO) scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government and the civil service.

The MoD’s Equipment Plan sets out its intended investment in equipment over the next decade, and assesses whether it will be affordable. The 2020–2030 Equipment Plan shows that the MoD allocated £190 billion to equipment projects, 41% of its overall defence budget, which it needs to manage effectively to ensure the armed forces can secure and maintain the equipment they need to meet their military objectives.

You can read the summary of the NAO report here.

In the plan, the MoD estimates that costs will be £7.3 billion higher than the budget, although in a worst-case scenario, the funding shortfall may be as large as £17.4 billion. However, the NAO continues to have reservations about the Plan’s cost forecasts.

“The MoD has presented the equipment budget on a different basis to previous years, which means its estimated funding shortfall for 2020–2030 is not directly comparable to previous years. The 2020–2030 Plan also excludes the full costs of replacing equipment that is becoming obsolete, such as the Navy’s mine hunting capability. The MoD has also started major procurement projects, including new submarines and combat aircraft, and is intending to develop new capabilities such as space capabilities, but has not included the full costs of these in the Plan.

The MoD continues to make over-optimistic and inconsistent judgements when forecasting costs. In the Plan, the MoD reduced its overall cost forecast by £25.1 billion to reflect adjustments for expected savings and its ability to deliver projects in line with original timetables. The MoD has made some improvements in its approach to estimating these savings, such as introducing a new process for estimating efficiency savings. However, it has not made enough progress in establishing a consistent and evidence-based approach to adjusting cost forecasts.”

Affordability pressures have grown since 2015 and are increasingly restricting the ability of military commands to develop their capabilities.2 The funding shortfalls are most acute in the next five years, with an estimated deficit of £8.3 billion, although this could be higher if the military commands do not achieve £8.4 billion of forecast savings in these five years. All of the military commands have funding shortfalls in their 10-year equipment programmes, with the Royal Navy reporting the largest shortfall of £4.3 billion (12% of overall costs).

“The MoD has no contingency for 2020-21, restricting the military commands’ ability to act on any unexpected demands or cost increases. As a result, the commands have again responded to funding pressures by stopping projects or deferring expenditure into later years. “

The NAO add that the MoD produced the plan prior to November 2020, when the government announced an additional £16.5 billion to support the development of military capabilities.

“This funding is intended to allow the MoD to modernise and invest in new technologies, including its cyber and space capabilities. It presents the MoD with an opportunity to develop a more affordable programme to develop the military capabilities that it needs. As it decides how to allocate this funding, the MoD will need to ensure that long-term decisions on equipment projects are based on a realistic assessment of costs.”

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said in a release:

“To date, the MoD’s fundamental problem has been that the cost of delivering its ambition far exceeds its available budget. Faced with an unaffordable equipment programme, it has adopted a short-term approach to financial management that restricts the military commands from developing the equipment they need and leads to increased costs in the longer-term. The government’s announcement of additional investment gives the MoD an opportunity to develop a more balanced equipment programme. It now needs to make tough decisions on its priorities, if it is to avoid a continuation of the increasing cost pressures we have seen in recent years.”

You can read the full NAO report here.

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George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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maurice10
maurice10
3 years ago

Here we go the inevitable old story of budgets and affordability of defending the realm. The real answer must be no, and hasn’t that always been the true answer? At this precise point in UK history, we possibly can’t afford not to spend?

George Royce
George Royce
3 years ago
Reply to  maurice10

Agreed. We need to realise, we have turned the corner for the better. The EU is in our past and CANZUK is in our future. If we want to become a large power again, we should raise the spending to 3% of GDP. Nothing else is acceptable

Steve
Steve
3 years ago
Reply to  George Royce

The whole canzuk is a stupid paper story that people used to justify Brexit. It’s got about as much truth in. It has about much truth as all the Brexit rubbish about a better deal. Reality is these other nations have their financial and polictical interests else where, the UK is their past not their present or future.

John Clark
John Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Interesting info Steve, ‘to justify BREXIT’ I thought a referendum was promised, organised, monitored by the electoral commission with paramiters agreed by all sides and took place with leave winning? No need to justify BREXIT, a democratic vote did that. I would point out that bullshit was used in copious amounts by both sides. It just so happened that project fear was the wrong approach to use by remain and remain tipped the scales in the field of bullshit. Ironically using President Obama in a national TV broadcast to ‘tell’ the British people to vote remain, was the biggest mistake… Read more »

Steve
Steve
3 years ago
Reply to  John Clark

Brexit was promised on the idea of massive of extra money being freed up whilst still having a free trade deal with the EU and better deals with other nations. We got none of that. My point isn’t about whether Brexit itself was right or wrong, it’s more that the utopia that was promised and realistically could never happen, has not and with that a better trade deal with Canada/Australia/new Zealand or in fact currently any country at all. Our interests will always be focused towards Europe because they are our closest neighbour, by and far largest trading partner, largest… Read more »

John Clark
John Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve

I understand your feelings Steve, but with respect, you are now looking back over your shoulder at history. EU membership is behind us and the sooner people face that fact and move on the better. We have an exciting future ahead, we can carry on trading with our European friends while connecting with the rest of the world. I’ll make a prediction, 5 years from now, we will have record employment and the highest annual economic growth rate in Europe. The UK has always been an outward looking maritime trading nation and we will re-discover our can do spirit and… Read more »

George Royce
George Royce
3 years ago
Reply to  John Clark

Steve is our resident remoaner, everyone has tried to reason with him but apparently he just doesn’t possess the required faculties to comprehend logical reasoned arguments.

Steve
Steve
3 years ago
Reply to  George Royce

It’s got nothing to do with being a renowner or brexitier, as those terms are now historic and meaniless, we have left.

I’m providing factual information that can be proved, rather than hopes and dreams that post Brexit we might somehow get more trade from our former empire.

Reality is none of them have been lining up to sign a better trade deal than we had (we left 12months ago and nothing), instead they have been requiring we sign a deal with the EU first, as they don’t want to damage their own deals with the EU.

Frank62
Frank62
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve

After 40 years of EU membership, sold to the 1970 public as “just a trading bloc”, the benefits of membership remainers think so clear & obvious had not convinced the majority. Those who had lived longest with the EU machine knowing what it really was rather than the kids impressed with the broucher-like EU spin, mostly felt they’d had enough of it.

HMS Monarch
HMS Monarch
3 years ago

Shall we expect a ‘DIVIDENDS OF PEACE’ speech accompanied by yet more cuts in the next month?

Levi Goldsteinberg
Levi Goldsteinberg
3 years ago
Reply to  HMS Monarch

I’d say not, since they just hiked the budget very substantially

David Flandry
David Flandry
3 years ago

Not the defense budget.

Graham
Graham
3 years ago
Reply to  David Flandry

See press reports of 19 Nov. Defence allocated extra £24.1bn over 4 years.

Frank62
Frank62
3 years ago
Reply to  HMS Monarch

Any more cuts will make the UK less secure & the world a more dangerous place. The threats we face have been increasing their budgets far faster.

Airborne
Airborne
3 years ago

Wow an almost mature post…..wrong, total piffle, but not quite as childish as normal.

Jack
Jack
3 years ago
Reply to  Airborne

Emphasis on almost. He couldn’t resist writing ‘UK’ 🙂

Airborne
Airborne
3 years ago
Reply to  Airborne

Your mid 70s, old and we all suppose had a full life, and the best you can do is little child like name calling….nice!

Meirion X
Meirion X
3 years ago
Reply to  Airborne

About time George shuts this Insurrectionist megaphone off!
There are parallels here with the Mob that stormed the Capitol!

Airborne
Airborne
3 years ago
Reply to  Meirion X

But he is amusing as its not often you find such a sad crayon eating fascist willing to post such guff in public. But yes he is quite irrelevent at this time and maybe its time for him to go back to being Iqbal on STRN. Cheers mate.

Meirion X
Meirion X
3 years ago
Reply to  Airborne

I do like the way you respond to him.
You right AB, it does make him seem childish!

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago
Reply to  Airborne

Can forget about Scottish independence then, no money for such adventures anytime soon. ?

Gunbuster
Gunbuster
3 years ago

It’s the NHS that is spiraling out of control. Decades of mismanagement and decades of spending with no comeback on what the expenditure is and now when it’s needed most it’s discovered to not be fit for purpose. That’s the scandal.
When you need to call in Armed Forces Loggies to sort out your transport and distribution you know that something is wrong.

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
3 years ago
Reply to  Gunbuster

You go back to the old Yes Minister quote spend on the NHS “and the nation feels absolved”. The administrative inefficiency and incompetence within the NHS is well know and admitted to by pretty much every medic, nurse and most administrators. Trouble is there are a mass of noisy interest groups that make simplifying and streamlining things impossible. It is such a big organisation that the Borg fights back! It infuriates a lot of surgical consultants, talking to them, that they have unfilled lists because of budget smoothing. There is a waiting list of patients. The staff are all paid… Read more »

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  Gunbuster

Maybe a case of they’re both bad at it but aye, the NHS is so bloated that it can’t (or doesn’t) operate efficiently. My missus has a lot of dealings with them (work as opposed to a malingerer) and rarely has a good word for the infrastructure.

It will be a ballsy government that has a go at the NHS on the back end of Covid though, the MOD is a much easier target.

BB85
BB85
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

I don’t think any government will cut NHS funding but there is bound to be low risk ways of cutting inefficiencies. I would also charge £10 for consultations and end free proscritions unless it is a life long illness to stop a of time wasting. When a service is free it’s completely taken for granted.

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

I wasn’t suggesting a government go on a cost cutting exercise as such, quite the reverse really, more saying that on the back of covid the NHS will be bullet proof as far as the public are concerned. With regard to the charges and ending of free prescriptions, that kind of goes against what the NHS is about. I agree that we’re now at the place where folk rip the absolute piss and go to the doctor when a trip to Boots would sort it. Sometimes the NHS don’t do themselves any favours with prescriptions either, on a rare visit… Read more »

BB85
BB85
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

I know pharmacists that have given out toothpaste on prescription. There are just certain thresholds where paying a very small fee has to be expected to stop people ripping the arse out of it. I know a Dr who gave cpr to someone who suffered a heart attack while running in the gym. Saved his life and his thanks for it was a solicitors letter for bruised ribs. I’m not even joking. People being admitted to A&E because they had too much on a Saturday night then assaulting staff. If they received a bill for £1,000 they wouldn’t be too… Read more »

Ryan Brewis
Ryan Brewis
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

That’s just daft. I had to pay for a bottle of eye drops since my contacts dry out a bit quick and fair enough, it’s not a prescription thing. Off the top of my head (and a Google) apparently there’s never been a successful case brought against someone who performed CPR here.
Good idea about the fine, doubt that would cause anything but more work for the police trying to enforce it.

geoff
geoff
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

Good points BB85 and notwithstanding my comments there is room for improvement no doubt but these UK institutions are at a very high level of competence compared to most other countries

geoff
geoff
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

Morning Andy. Bottom line-free enterprise, as long as it comes in the form of genuine competition and not a couple of big oligopolies, always does things more efficiently. So the MoD and NHS are easy targets to criticise but can I tell you that as a Brit in exile,from my view the UK Public sector is among the best in the world and your NHS and yes, even the MoD is something to cherish. Here in South Africa much of our Public and quasi Public sector has been destroyed by a greed, incompetence and corruption beyond understanding

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  geoff

Morning Geoff, I’m not convinced that free enterprise is the ‘go to’ answer for a lot of stuff. I’ve never understood why some prisons are run by private companies, I’m not keen on infrastructure like the power companies being owned by share holders either but I don’t want to go too off piste on this. I’m a big fan of the NHS, I do get frustrated when it seems to be consistently bad at doing things, I’ve seen plenty stuff in the MOD that is pretty shoddy too, I guess where private companies are involved then things are more accountable… Read more »

geoff
geoff
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

Hi Andy. Private enterprise is obviously not suited to all Public sector tasks, including for reasons other than financial, but i still think much could be privatised to the general good. To use a South African example our Public electricity utility Eskom, has been destroyed by those who have run it for the last 20 years since our 1994 election. They have a hugely inflated and grossly overpaid staff producing less electricity costing consumers much more money along with frequent power cuts. The suggestion here is to allow private institutions to supply power. They are queuing up and ready with… Read more »

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  geoff

Hi Geoff, that just sounds like bad management and that can happen in both the private and public sector. The risk with the private sector is that infrastructure can be ignored to make sure share holders get their dividends. There is the scope for things to go bad in both cases.

geoff
geoff
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

I think we are broadly on the same page Andy and you are spot on by labelling the Eskom example as bad management but i wanted to say that Power Utilities in general could benefit from Private sector input in response to your reservations about private shareholding in such companies

peter wait
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

You only have to look at foreign owned water companies, these were loaded with debt to give investors a return!

Julian
Julian
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

By necessity this Covid-19 pandemic seems to be driving at least some efficiency initiatives in the NHS. For instance I saw a news report about one A&E changing its admission path to re-order things such that a doctor got to assess each patient at a much earlier stage rather than an initial consultation with a triage nurse followed by a lengthy wait for any further treatment. They claimed to have data showing that after the change they had substantially enhanced patient throughput. Would they have ever tried that change in procedure were they not desperately trying to optimise resources? I… Read more »

Peter S
Peter S
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

Despite its wretched performance during the pandemic, the NHS is probably untouchable. One way to change attitudes might be to hand every patient a notional bill showing the cost of treatment. A record could be maintained so that serial overusers could be identified and challenged. One thing I really don’t get is what the highest paid GPs in Europe have been doing for the last 10 months. And why should they get paid extra for doing routine vaccinations on patients they get an annual capitation fee for whether they treat them or not? Properly planned, defence expenditure on UK made… Read more »

peter wait
3 years ago
Reply to  BB85

Perhaps they should charge £10 refundable when you turn up for appointment?

John Clark
John Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

You are right there Andy, a little while ago Jonathan gave a very good (thorough in the constraints of a forum post) breakdown of improvements needed in the NHS, from a knowledgeable chap who knows his stuff. Like many of our public services, the Police for instance, there’s unnecessary duplication across force areas, waisting huge amounts of money across the country. The answer is a frank conversation to see what can be done better, is needed, the trouble is, it’s seized and jumped upon by those on the left who howl and scream ‘ the NHS is under threat’ and… Read more »

David Barry
David Barry
3 years ago
Reply to  John Clark

Are you prepared to take on the interests of those in charge of the CNC or MOD plod, indeed why can there not be just one police force?

Why are there still 3 military police forces? Oh, pongos can not inspect ships, no, we couldn;t but an organisation set up bereft of individual headquarters and admin overheads could have, ripe for change to purple.

John Clark
John Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  David Barry

Absolutely David, the Police are long overdue for root and branch reform. Having individual forces with their own chains of command across county lines, is ridiculous and outmoded in the 21st century. It wastes an enormous amount of money in pointless and massive duplication of command structures, great for jobs for the boys, but not so good for national Policing. We could probably get away with four police force areas in England, with regional offices, disbanding the MOD police entirely, with their frankly piss poor record. The savings would be substantial, the arcane and slow moving management structure hugely streamlined… Read more »

peter wait
3 years ago
Reply to  David Barry

Don’t stop their, no reason why combined defence command structure instead of three!

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  John Clark

Morning John, that idea of removing the NHS from direct government control is an interesting one, you would hope that it would give more continuity. For me the problem that organisations like the NHS and MOD have is the way the budgets are divvied up and run. People with budgets can get very precious about THEIR budget and palm people off, there’s also the ‘if you don’t use it you lose it’ aspect which can lead to money being wasted. As I said to Geoff above, I don’t claim to know the solution to this, maybe giving a bit more… Read more »

John Clark
John Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  Andy P

I absolutely agree. Remember when Tony Blair basked in the glory of “Saving the NHS” … The budget certainly went up, but reform was brought up quick smart when his boss’s at the TUC said NO WAY…

He instead made things much worse, engaging in a huge huge hospital building program using PPI’s!

Well done Tony, great job, talk about kicking the can down the road!

Usual Labour mess……

So, yep, take the NHS away from the Government of the day, none of them can be trusted not to use it for their own political football….

Julian
Julian
3 years ago
Reply to  Gunbuster

There’s obviously way more to it but to some extent I think that defence and the NHS have the same problem and that problem is the seemingly inevitable desire for each new government to place its mark on things, to throw out previous government’s decisions sometimes simply on the basis of “not invented here”, and to implement its own new plans. That not only happens when a change of government involves a change of political party in power but sometimes even after a new prime minister has won an internal power struggle within the same party and wants to send… Read more »

Derek
Derek
3 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Unfortunately, the NHS is riddled with politics. Think back to how many times the issue of lost revenue, to the tune of millions of pounds annually, for treating foreign nationals who are not entitled to free treatment comes up. Then recall Doctor after Doctor (often political activists) on TV stating that ‘we are Doctors – not revenue collectors for Government’. Remember? Ok, now go ask your GP for a letter to your insurance company of injuries sustained in an accident. ‘Certainly, that will be £10 + VAT’. Over 50? You’ll get an annual health check appointment sent to you and… Read more »

Jack
Jack
3 years ago

£7.3 Billion over 10 years is nothing and could be managed easily if there was political will and accountability.

Levi Goldsteinberg
Levi Goldsteinberg
3 years ago

If I were to take an optimistic tone, I’d put that the MoD had been awarded an incremental budget increase to see how they manage the extra money before they’re given the amount they need. It’s not like the MoD have been exactly efficient with their procurement over time

But who am I kidding, its the government. They have no idea

DaveyB
DaveyB
3 years ago

It doesn’t help when the head of the Army, Navy or Airforce goes to the Defence Secretary and says I have a cunning plan to modernise our forces. It all looks very good and they get a pat on the back and promotion, but hardly anything is delivered and is late. i’m looking at you General Carter.

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
3 years ago

Same old story. But no need for the doom merchants to wake up either.

The extra billions cannot all vanish into cyber, the AIA, and Space, so I’d expect a fair chunk of that defecit to never materialise.

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
3 years ago

Hi Daniele,

I did read at the time of the original discussions about the up lift in defence spending that the spend on cyber etc. would only use about half of the total increase. As most commentators seemed to think that the MoD should be able to fill the spending gap.

My concern is that they will assume that this new money means lots of new kit. Wrong. It means that the current plan MIGHT be feasible if they get their blinking house in order. There in lies the problem…

Cheers CR

Jonny
Jonny
3 years ago

Oh well government debt doesn’t really exist/make a difference anyway.

Levi Goldsteinberg
Levi Goldsteinberg
3 years ago
Reply to  Jonny

See this a lot on internet comments section, likely people who don’t want to find out enough to worry themselves so wave it off. Government absolutely does exist and absolutely does matter, the exponentially growing problem of the debt burden will have to be dealt with one day

Citizen
Citizen
3 years ago

It will be dealt with in the easiest way for politicians: monetizing the debt. And as long as everyone else (e.g. the U.S. is doing the same thing) it can be maintained indefinitely.

Levi Goldsteinberg
Levi Goldsteinberg
3 years ago
Reply to  Citizen

I’m afraid that rests on the assumption that there’s unlimited appetite and capacity for debt in capital markets which is just false. There’s only so much debt that can be bought, and there’s only so long your bonds yields can stay competitive for

Citizen
Citizen
3 years ago

Your bond yields don’t have to be competitive if your central bank is printing money to buy them. HTH.

Expat
Expat
3 years ago
Reply to  Citizen

So why don’t poorer countries just do the same? Surely if that’s the silver bullet there would zero poverty, countries could just print money and buy up there own debt.

Levi Goldsteinberg
Levi Goldsteinberg
3 years ago
Reply to  Citizen

Widespread QE leads in only one direction – hyperinflation. It is not a future-proof policy

Expat
Expat
3 years ago

Yep, Argentina was one of the most prosperous nations with its currency widely traded and sort after in the early part of the last century. Its a prime example of how poor government and economic management can ruin a country. There is a point where there will be the question can they afford to pay, at that point rates go up.

Citizen
Citizen
3 years ago
Reply to  Expat

You all missed the part where I said “as long as everyone else is doing it, too”… There will be no hyperinflation if there’s no safe refuge elsewhere. Yes, there will be inflation, which will be a cost borne by all holders of the currency. Hence the term “monetizing the debt”.

Rob
Rob
3 years ago

Maybe we could re role 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s left over Compo into weapons to save money. A simple spigot mortar could deliver a deadly wave of Cheese possessed, tinned margarine, Bacon Grill and those peas from the Arctic menu.

Ha,ha – I understand you’ve still got ‘oat mill block’ too.

David Barry
David Barry
3 years ago
Reply to  Rob

Leave my oat meal block alone – it would have been almost orgasmic if I had not been surrounded by 30 other soldiers…

Rob
Rob
3 years ago
Reply to  David Barry

David, the only way to eat it is:

Break it up, add milk powder, instant chocolate (optional) and the apple flakes (remember those?). Boil in water until porridgeish.

David Barry
David Barry
3 years ago
Reply to  Rob

You obviously never had my DS from KORBR, they only way to eat it is get it down your neck, sharpish like, y ken marra?

Patrick
Patrick
3 years ago

20 years of the same old news.

Paul.P
Paul.P
3 years ago

1000 Deloitte consultants with zero experience of public health paid £2.3k per day to run a centralised phone based covid contact tracing system.
My partner has just tested positive for covid and filled in her contacts on the NI web site. Less than an hour later I received a text message telling me to self isolate for 10 days, which of course I had already embarked on. A simple, effective IT system. The English contact tracing system cost over £10billion. A disgrace.

Challenger
Challenger
3 years ago

With one of the largest defence budgets in the world there is something seriously wrong with the whole culture of procurement and decision making that no amount of salami slicing will permanently solve.

It needs root and branch reform. I’d start with the Army 2025 structure (or whatever it’s called now) which has been utterly shambolic.

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
3 years ago
Reply to  Challenger

Agree. At least the other services have something for their money so far.

Klonkie
Klonkie
3 years ago

A point of clarification. Does this report allow for the recent planned in defence expenditure for the next five years, or was this report concluded prior to the announced increases?

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago
Reply to  Klonkie

Unfortunately, it includes the recent up spend in the budget.

Klonkie
Klonkie
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

cheers, thx Robert

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago
Reply to  Klonkie

That may be wrong though, as Daniele has highlighted below ?

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

Really Robert?

The NAO add that the MoD produced the plan prior to November 2020, when the government announced an additional £16.5 billion to support the development of military capabilities.”

To me that means it does not.

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago

Fingers crossed you are correct mate, I didn’t notice the date it was put together, or remember the date the increase in cash was announced.

Peter S
Peter S
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

I managed to wade through the report which is hard to follow and get to the numbers for big projects. The plan does include the £16b uplift. There are some major items with no funding * Ch2 upgrade * AS90 upgrade or replacement *AESA radar for Typhoon *Combat aircraft purchase beyond the 48 contracted F35b *Mine hunting modernisation. * Type 26 beyond the three ordered (@£3.6 b) Included in the plan are: * Warrior upgrade (£1.7 b but not yet contracted) *All five Type 31. The report lumps together purchase costs and support. I have not been able to get… Read more »

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago
Reply to  Peter S

Thanks Peter. ?

Gavin Gordon
Gavin Gordon
3 years ago

Recent likely reductions in E-7, yet again moving the Challenger & Warrior yes/no decision to the right, main gate approval for Tempest and Chinook postponed (the latter now tending to precipitously park in fields for days on end), and Rishi Sunak suddenly losing his equanimity in the Commons over the ongoing economic horror story for China’s Covid export, all at a time when Government pronouncement on Defence was at least sounding coherent in an increasingly unstable world. Doesn’t look over optimistic to me; more same old same old. Hopefully, I’ll be proven wrong.

dan
dan
3 years ago

Here’s a thought. Cut back on some of the money spent to keep the royals in the lap of luxury and spend it on the troops. I guess that makes too much sense so it won’t happen.

geoff
geoff
3 years ago
Reply to  dan

Keeping neutral on the wider question of Monarchy, I would say that the amount that could be saved here would be tiny, even without a cost-benefit analysis on the Institution as a whole.

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
3 years ago
Reply to  dan

The Royal estate brings in far more income to the tax man, than it costs the UK taxpayer. in 2019, the Royal Family cost each individual UK taxpayer 69p.

Andy P
Andy P
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

I’m always dubious of these figures Robert, there will be a lot of stuff left of the list of ‘costs’.

Meirion X
Meirion X
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

Was Not the Royal Estate land seized from others?
It is likely those others will have had seized it in turn from others as well!

Meirion X
Meirion X
3 years ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

An example is, the land of the Church of England came from land seized by Henry the 8th from the Roman Catholic Church, one third of England at the time.
The RCC must of seize this land from others further in the past.

Daniel
Daniel
3 years ago
Reply to  Meirion X

Are you suggesting we should abolish the monarchy and hand over a third of England to the Pope? At some point in time all land was seized by somebody or the other, and then sold on for a profit. That was a perfectly legitimate method of acquiring land at that time, so why is it
for us to punish the descendants of the people who just so happened to be better at seizing land than everyone else? Where would you draw the line with such nonsense?

Meirion X
Meirion X
3 years ago
Reply to  Daniel

No, I am Not saying we should abolish the monarchy yet. I am neutral on the issue.
The Crown Estate land could be put into a Sovereign Wealth fund to pay for expenses.
Also the CoE should keep the land which it has got, about 2 million acres, which includes the land hosting the Churches.
The rest of the 8 million acres taken by Henry the 8th was given to his friends.

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
3 years ago
Reply to  dan

I’m a proud Monarchist, so, no thank you.

The Royal Family make more for the nation than they cost, in more than just finances.

Expat
Expat
3 years ago

I’m inclined to agree, the Monarchy is part of the UK brand these days. I have traveled a lot over the years its something that people always want to talk about once they find out you’re from the UK, particularly beyond Europe. That and English football 🙂

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
3 years ago
Reply to  Expat

And there is another Soft Power example! The Premier League.

geoff
geoff
3 years ago

So after all the recent good news, a reality check!

peter wait
3 years ago

Time to cancel the CTA 40, 20,000lbs of recoil was never going to work without damaging hulls and wobbling turrets 180 db seems a bit loud too! Join the new euro tank project, by the time the CR2 upgrade is built it will be too old and supply chain for small numbers expensive. Increase boxer numbers and fit bushmaster as warrior upgrade too expensive. Cancel Ajax with CTA40 and buy CV90 with bushmaster as it works !

Steve
Steve
3 years ago
Reply to  peter wait

Whilst the logic is sound, government procurement is terrible and it’s taken years and vasts amount of money to decide on the Ajax etc, cancelling it would just result in even more loss of money and even longer before the gear hits front line service.

Frank62
Frank62
3 years ago

The treasury must step up as most of what is on the books is quite modest, long delayed replacement of worn out or obsolete gear for our hollowed out military. Cyber is a real & present threat, space more expendable. We are in increasingly unstable times with very real threats to free societies. Totalitarian PRC has become a global threat & the USA is at risk of civil war or a far right takeover. Assad has been allowed to brutally crush all opposition, our Kurdish allies sold down the river, Ulraine fights a long war against Russian pproxies, Iran is… Read more »

4th watch
4th watch
3 years ago

The Russian Confederation is commissioning between 8 to 6 warships each year. That’s just for starters we need to be aware of this. Does that ring a bell?

David Flandry
David Flandry
3 years ago

Plus the official MOD site reports a regular force level of 135,000 personnel for all services. This is pathetic.

David Flandry
David Flandry
3 years ago

“Miliary spending is spiralling out of control…” What are you smoking?