Nia Griffith MP, Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary, responding to a National Audit Office report finding that there is a £7 billion hole in the MoD’s Defence Equipment Plan, said:

“This report on the Government’s Defence Equipment Plan is very damning.

“We need proper investment in our nation’s defences, not just political posturing from the Defence Secretary. You cannot do security on the cheap.

“It is high time that Conservative Ministers stopped relying on unrealistic efficiency savings and got to grips with the huge affordability gap in the Defence Equipment plan.”