MP for Devonport Luke Pollard has slammed the Ministry of Defence for wasting £13billion of taxpayers money since 2010, according to new Labour analysis.
The MoD has blown billions of pounds at the same time as cutting Army numbers, cutting the number of Devonport warships and freezing forces pay.
This has been revealed in Labour’s “Dossier of Waste in the Ministry of Defence” which found that the Government has wasted at least £13billion of taxpayers’ money on 67 officially confirmed cases of MoD waste since 2010.
The audit examines the extent of waste within the MoD, the cost of which could have been avoided or reduced by better MoD judgement or management.
Labour’s analysis found that Ministers’ mismanagement at the Ministry of Defence has led to £4.8 billion of taxpayers’ money being handed out for cancelled contracts and £5.6 billion on overspent projects.
This new analysis supports the Public Accounts Committee claim, that the Ministry of Defence’s procurement system is “broken and is repeatedly wasting taxpayers’ money”.
Luke has suggested that if this wasted public money had been reduced, funding could have been available to strengthen the UK’s Armed Forces and avoid cuts forced by budget pressures to troops, planes, ships and vital equipment.
Luke has been campaigning to secure the future of Stonehouse Barracks as the home for the Royal Marines, and to secure the future and replacement of Devonport’s remaining amphibious ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark.
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard said:
“I’m proud to come from a naval family and for me defending jobs in Devonport is personal as well as professional. .
“The Ministry of Defence has blown billions of pounds at the same time as cutting Army numbers, scrapping Royal Navy warships and freezing forces pay.
“I want to see Devonport’s armed forces properly resourced. That means Ministers must get a grip on MOD waste because it is currently failing frontline forces and taxpayers. Devonport deserves better than rampant waste and deep defence cuts.”
Commenting on Labour’s “Dossier of Waste in the Ministry of Defence”, Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:
“The Ministry of Defence is a uniquely failing department. Labour’s audit confirms at least £13B in taxpayers’ money has been wasted since 2010, with £4B wasted while the present Defence Secretary has been in post.
“Ministers are failing British troops and British taxpayers, and this audit is Labour’s first step in fixing the failing system. We would ensure the Ministry of Defence is the first department subject to our new Office for Value for Money’s new tough spending regime and commission to NAO to get to the bottom of these problems.”
Labour would make the Ministry of Defence the first department subject to their new Office for Value for Money’s tough spending regime and commission the NAO to conduct an audit of Ministry of Defence waste to get to grips with these problems.