UK government accused of wasting billions of their defence budget.

According to a report, supposedly covered up under the orders of no less than PM Gordon Brown, the British government has been accused of wasting around £2.5 billion each year due to delays in funding defence projects. This waste of public funds, which the UK can all afford at the moment, was reported in a recent television documentary. No less embarrassing than the inefficient handling of public money was the government’s fumbling attempts to cover up the gross mismanagement of the defence contracts, needed to supply troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whilst controversy rages as to whether UK troops should be engaged for so long in a form of guerilla warfare so far from its shores, with considerable an increasing casualties, the difficulty in maintaining the government’s defence budget during the recession has become more and more of an issue.

When former Ministry of Defence aide Bernard Gray leaked the news that the government was wasting up £2.5 billion s a year as a result of incompetent defence procurement decisions, officials at the defence ministry at Whitehall were ordered from high up to do everything in their power to ensure that this political hot potato did not reach public ears.

In his report, Gray recommends regular reviews of defence policy and establishing a realistic, fixed Ministry of Defence budget that will allow the ministry to plan ahead; He also strongly suggested that private sector expertise should be brought into the procurement department that employs 23,000 public servants.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government announced plans last month for the first strategic defence review in more than a decade, a move that could lead to such cuts.

Meanwhile opposition Conservatives has described the disclosures as a damning indictment of 12 years of incompetence.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Bernard Gray, British Economy, Credit Crunch, defence budget, Economy, Gordon Brown, Iraq, Ministry of Defence, Recession, UK government, UK Recession, UK troops