By IRNA,
London : Prime Minister Gordon Brown was reported Friday to have agreed to let the Ministry of Defence (MoD) free up funds to provide life-saving kit for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and give the go-ahead for two new super aircraft carriers.
According to the Financial Times, the MoD is being to break one of the government’s main accounting rules to address the defence budget shortfall, which is estimated to be almost Pnds 2 bn (Dlrs 3.9 bn).
The freeing of the funds comes after the Defence Select Committee reported in March that the combined costs of Britain’s military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are expected to have almost doubled during 2007/08, despite the reduction of troops in Basra.
The decision was said to finally give the go-ahead to
controversial plans to build two new aircraft carriers at a cost of Pnds 2 bn each and which were due to enter service by 2014.
But the Financial Times said that in return the MoD has been forced to order a “no-holds-barred” look at other defence projects in a move that will create new uncertainty over other contracts.
Britain’s defence budget, the fifth highest in the world has risen by nearly Pnds 12 bn to Pnds 33.5 bn since Labour first came to power in 1997.
By far the biggest annual increase came in the lead up to the Iraq war, when it jumped by Pnds 5.7 bn to Pnds 29.3 bn in 2002/03 from Pnds 23.6 bn in 2001/02..
The MoD announced a series of cost-cutting measure in 2004 to save around Pnds 2.8 bn in 2004, but last year it was reported to again looking for measure to bring its budget back to spending limits set by the Treasury.