The British government is wasting up to £2.5 billion (US$4.24 billion) a year because of delays in defense projects, Channel 4 television news reported on Wednesday.
Channel 4 said the figure was drawn from a report that the government had commissioned but had not published because it was too embarrassed by its contents.
The defense budget is under pressure as government borrowing soars due to the recession. The government is also facing repeated accusations that it is failing to provide troops in Afghanistan with the helicopters and armored vehicles they need.
Channel 4 said the report, by former Ministry of Defence aide Bernard Gray, concluded that the government was wasting between £1.5 billion and £2.5 billion a year because of incompetent defense procurement decisions.
It did not disclose its source for the information.
The network said the government could afford only two thirds of the defense equipment it was buying. When it ran out of cash it had to delay projects, but costs continued to mount up as workers had to be paid.
A decision last December to delay a contract for two Royal Navy aircraft carriers by up to two years could cost more than £500 million, Channel 4 said.
The report recommends regular reviews of defense policy, fixing the Ministry of Defence’s budget so the ministry can plan ahead and bringing private sector expertise into the department that handles procurement, the network said.
It said the procurement department, which employs 23,000 people, could be privatized.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Kevan Jones told Channel 4 he would not discuss the contents of what he called a draft report.
The draft report would feed into a government document on defense to be published early next year, he said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government announced plans last month for the first strategic defense review in more than a decade, a move that could lead to cuts.
The Conservatives called the Channel 4 disclosures “a damning indictment of 12 years of incompetence” by the Labour government, in power since 1997.
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