Advertisement
News

Government ‘failing British troops’ as taxpayer billions wasted by Ministry of Defence, according to Labour

A Labour Party dossier reveals billions of taxpayer money has been wasted by the Ministry of Defence since 2010

The Ministry of Defence has wasted nearly £13 billion of taxpayers money since 2010, according to new research released by the Labour party which accuses the government of “failing British troops and British taxpayers”.

The “Dossier of Waste in the Ministry of Defence” found 67 officially confirmed cases of waste funds, funds that Labour claim could have been used to support areas of defence that are already underfunded by the government.

​​“The Ministry of Defence has blown billions of pounds at the same time as cutting back our Armed Forces,” said Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey. 

“The MoD is a uniquely failing department, yet Ministers have taken no serious steps to secure value for taxpayers’ money. This scale of waste is totally unacceptable.”

The opposition has accused the Conservative party of overspending and mismanagement within the Ministry of Defence, with almost £4 billion wasted since Ben Wallace became secretary of state for defence in 2019.

The dossier revealed that cancelled contracts have resulted in waste worth £4.8 billion since 2010, whilst Ministry of Defence projects have overspent £5.6 billion. According to Labour’s research, approximately £64 million was wasted on admin errors alone in the last decade.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The Ministry of Defence spends roughly £40 billion every year with almost half of this budget contributing to UK defence equipment. Despite the department’s annual cost, Labour’s report acknowledged that none of its 36 major projects are on schedule and on-budget. The dossier says that the Ministry of Defence is “the worst performing department in Whitehall” and that “the scale of MoD waste is significant and systemic.”

The report describes the Ministry of Defence as a “black hole” of expenditure and government ministers have “no grip” on the department’s finances. 

Much of the department’s operations and financial data is inaccessible to the public, meaning that the dossier’s findings may only be “the tip of the iceberg” according to the report. 

The Ministry of Defence Press Office responded to the Labour report in a tweet, saying: “We always review and renew our capabilities to ensure relevance to today’s threats and taxpayer value for money.”

The report covers slashes of various areas of the UK’s defence in recent years. Labour said cuts to military equipment such as tanks, destroyers, frigates and Royal Airforce aircraft could be avoided with better management of taxpayer funds.

The Public Accounts Committee reported that: “The Department’s system for delivering major equipment capabilities is broken and is repeatedly wasting taxpayers’ money.”

Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey tweeted: “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.”

Advertisement

Learn more about our impact

When most people think about the Big Issue, they think of vendors selling the Big Issue magazines on the streets – and we are immensely proud of this. In 2022 alone, we worked with 10% more vendors and these vendors earned £3.76 million in collective income. There is much more to the work we do at the Big Issue Group, our mission is to create innovative solutions through enterprise to unlock opportunity for the 14million people in the UK living in poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
You can now buy a T-shirt to fund Big Issue's mission to help vulnerable people
Big Issue Group

You can now buy a T-shirt to fund Big Issue's mission to help vulnerable people

Has Manchester found an innovative way to tackle begging?
Homelessness

Has Manchester found an innovative way to tackle begging?

Buying a home in the UK is more expensive than ever. When will house prices go down?
House Prices

Buying a home in the UK is more expensive than ever. When will house prices go down?

People were sacked and imprisoned for being gay in the armed forces. Now they are fighting for justice
LGBT+ veterans

People were sacked and imprisoned for being gay in the armed forces. Now they are fighting for justice

Most Popular

Read All
Here's when people will get the next cost of living payment in 2023
1.

Here's when people will get the next cost of living payment in 2023

Strike dates 2023: From trains to airports to tube lines, here are the dates to know
2.

Strike dates 2023: From trains to airports to tube lines, here are the dates to know

Suranne Jones opens up about her 'relentless and terrifying' experiences of bullying
3.

Suranne Jones opens up about her 'relentless and terrifying' experiences of bullying

Arctic Monkeys team up with Big Issue to produce unique tour programme
4.

Arctic Monkeys team up with Big Issue to produce unique tour programme