Editorial: Financial Times: "MoD orders spending clampdown"

The Financial Times newspaper published an article concerning UK defence expenditure concerns, "MoD orders spending clampdown" yesterday on-line.

It comes as no surprise that Central Government in the current economic environment is putting down pressure on Departments which are big spenders on goods and services to hold on major new commitments of public funds.

For the Ministry of Defence however, many of these programs rely on a fragile defence industrial base and the reality of high operational tempo - the bad guys, simply put, do not recognise Whitehall budget difficulties in planning their operations.

It would seem that the Defence Management Board (DMB) have settled for a freeze, rather than outright cuts, with the view that the financial crisis may be short lived. There may yet be a round two to this story early in 2009 as more countries, and possibly even the United Kingdom, succumbs to recession.

The more interesting question is what is MOD Abbey Wood in Bristol, the largest administrative building in Europe and home to Defence Equipment & Support going to do ? As a consequence of Sir. Kevin's statement DE&S has nothing new to deal with until the ban on passing business cases through scrutiny to the Investment Approvals Board (IAB) is lifted.

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Defense budget, Editorial, UK MoD