LONDON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- An internal British defense ministry report revealing an annual $4.6 billion in government waste on equipment is being suppressed, an opposition official said.
The report by former defense ministry adviser Bernard Gray was to have been published last month, but was delayed after ministers said work would begin on a strategic defense review, to be held after next year's general election.
His report, examining ways of getting better value in defense-equipment purchases, allegedly finds persistent defense ministry budget shortfalls push up costs by forcing project delays.
The delays add up to $4.6 billion a year in cost overruns, Britain's Channel 4 News reported.
"This is a damning indictment of 12 years of incompetence," Shadow Defense Secretary Liam Fox said.
By allegedly trying to suppress this report, Prime Minister Gordon Brown "has demonstrated that he cares more about the reputation of Labor than he does about the well-being of the armed forces," Fox said.
A decision last year to postpone for two years the purchase of two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers could cost taxpayers about $1.8 billion because the consortium building the ships keeps staff working longer, The Times of London cited the report as saying.
Brown had no immediate public response to the report. Defense ministry Parliamentary Undersecretary of State Kevan Jones said he "did not recognize" the reported waste figure and rejected any suggestion that defense procurement was incompetent.
He also said Gray's report would now form part of a broader review of defense spending and procurement to be announced by Science Minister Paul Rudd Drayson later this year.
