Extreme scepticism about the Ministry of Defence’s ability to achieve an estimated £7bn in savings being sought by the Treasury is expressed in a Commons defence committee report published on Sunday.
Failure to find the savings will mean cuts in the number of planes, ships and armoured vehicles or at least delays in their acquisition.
The Commons report comes as the MoD is facing a mini-review conducted by the Cabinet Office, due to be published early next year. The review is into whether Britain’s military, intelligence agencies and police are designed to handle threats posed by domestic and international terrorism, cyber-attacks and Russia.
As part of the review, the Treasury is looking to squeeze the MoD budget.
The defence committee report says the affordability of the present plan to acquire new ships, aircraft and armoured vehicles is based on a presumption the MoD can find £7.3bn in savings through increased efficiency. Such savings have yet to be achieved, the report says.
This comes on top of £7.1bn of previously announced efficiency savings.
The committee says the MoD has proven incapable of making savings on this scale in the past.
Julian Lewis, the Conservative chairman of the committee, said: “It is extremely doubtful that the MoD can generate even more efficiencies from within its already stretched budget on the scale required to deliver its equipment plan.
“This will inevitably lead either to a reduction in the numbers of ships, aircraft and vehicles or to even greater delays in their acquisition.”
