Waste, waste, waste
Warships, jets and tanks worth £2.5 billion scrapped in Whitehall cost-cutting drive - Telegraph
The Strategic Defence Review in 2010 outlined cuts of eight per cent, or £4.7 billion, from the Ministry of Defence budget. The savings were to be achieved by cutting around 42,000 jobs and getting rid of aircraft, ships and vehicles.
Selling the entire fleet of Britain’s 74 Harrier jump jets in 2011, seven years earlier than planned, was intended to save £2.8 billion...
...Ending the Harrier programme is recorded as a in the MoD accounts as a loss of £1.29 billion. The fleet was bought by the United States Navy, which still uses the planes, for around £100 million. US defence chiefs suggested they had secured a bargain given the good condition of the jets, saying the purchase was “like buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it.”
Defence Ministers justified their decisions to cut the Army and sell-off prized assets like the Harrier jets by saying it would save money. In fact it’s saved nowhere near what they thought, and in some cases it has even resulted in a loss.”
The Ministry of Defence stressed that the figures for scrapped equipment reflected a write-down in assets for accounting purposes, and not fresh cash payments.
A spokesman said: “These are routine financial reports and in no way has day-to-day defence spending been impacted or reduced. Because of the financial inheritance in 2010, defence had to take tough decisions in order to deliver a balanced budget. This meant retiring a number of capabilities and writing off their costs, which requires specific accountancy treatment.”
LJ
