The TaxPayers' Alliance submitted to the defence select committee inquiry on defence industrial policy on 27th April 2020.
Executive summary
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The UK should not adopt a Made in UK policy, instead buying more off-the-shelf equipment which is, or will be, in use with other armed forces. If the UK is to retain the Defence Industrial Strategy, then this must form an explicit part of it.
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The Ministry of Defence must prove it can spend the money it already has effectively, by outlining how it would avoid recent errors and achieve better value.
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The Ministry of Defence needs to be clear about cost estimates, ensuring realistic assessments of budgets across the department and cease being over-optimistic that programmes are running within budget.
- To prevent prioritisation of short-term priorities over long-term sustainability, there needs to be greater accountability of project managers for the long-term consequences of their decisions.