POLL: Are Labour wrong to save £500m by scrapping Navy ships and helicopters?

By Conor Wilson, News Reporter

The measures purpose to prevention £500m. (Image: Getty)

The UK volition prevention £500 cardinal by getting escaped of subject instrumentality earlier than planned, the Defence Secretary announced yesterday.

John Healey announced successful the Commons that ships, drones, and helicopters would beryllium scrapped early, with critics arguing that it would leave defence with important capableness gaps.

Mr Healey told MPs: “I’ve introduced choky fiscal controls connected the department, including a £300 cardinal simplification successful planned consultancy spending. We’re getting a grip of MoD (Ministry of Defence) budgets and investing successful radical and successful aboriginal technologies.”

He added: “These decisions are acceptable to prevention the MOD £150m implicit the adjacent 2 years and up to £500m implicit 5 years, savings that volition beryllium retained successful afloat successful defence.”

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said Labour was "scrapping capabilities conscionable arsenic the threats to our federation are growing".

The announcement comes as defence is undergoing a strategical review, seeking to recognize and hole for aboriginal threats.

Two amphibious battle ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, are acceptable to beryllium decommissioned early. Neither vessel is owed to acceptable sail earlier its scheduled end-of-service date.

Mr Healey claimed that erstwhile ministers had efficaciously decommissioned the ships but near them connected the books astatine a outgo of £9 cardinal per year.

Fourteen Chinook helicopters and seventeen Puma helicopters, which archetypal entered work 35 and 50 years ago, respectively, volition besides beryllium phased out.

Each capableness has a replacement successful production, but nary is owed to get earlier 2026. Military procurement has notoriously been unreliable astatine delivering caller instrumentality into work connected time, meaning that capableness gaps could beryllium longer than anticipated.

Also included successful the cuts are 2 tankers, a Type 23 Frigate and the Watchkeeper drone system.

The announcement's timing has caused immoderate astonishment owed to the ongoing strategical defence review, which has seen ministers debar answering questions astir the equipped forces' aboriginal since the wide election.

Former Minister for Defence Procurement James Heappy believes that the scrapping of ageing pieces of kit is “not needfully the extremity of the world” whilst highlighting that the amphibious battle spread caused by the decommissioning of HMS Albion and Bulwark is “painful”.