As part of the government’s commitment to reducing the deficit, the Chancellor announced today that Whitehall departments have found a further £3 billion savings in this financial year. The MOD will contribute to this cross-government effort to tackle the public finances by making £500 million of further savings and efficiencies.
This will not impact on our commitment to spend 2% of GDP of defence and meet our NATO pledge. Nor will this mean any further cuts to our Armed Forces or impact on our current operations.
Since 2010, the MOD has a strong track record of delivering efficiency savings. Tough choices were made, but by cancelling out of control procurement programmes, becoming a more intelligent customer, and using our assets in the best possible way, we were able to bring the Defence budget under control.
An MOD Spokesperson said:
“You would expect MOD to play a part in the Government’s ongoing commitment to reduce the deficit.
“As part of the Chancellor’s announcement, we have agreed to make a further £500M of savings and adjustments in this financial year. This amounts to 1.5% of the overall defence budget.
“This agreement will not impact on the baseline defence budget, manpower numbers or current operations. The UK will continue to spend 2% of GDP on Defence in this financial year.”