Clegg calls for defence review

Nick Clegg has called on the prime minister to ensure that troops in Afghanistan are "properly equipped".

The Liberal Democrat leader was speaking during prime minister's questions on Wednesday, following news that two aircraft carriers costing £3.9bn will enter service between 2014 and 2016.

Gordon Brown claimed that the aircraft carrier order would benefit "almost every shipyard in the UK".

But arguing that much defence expenditure "continues to be misallocated on Cold War priorities", Clegg called for "the first strategic defence review in 10 years to ensure that our troops are properly equipped for the new kinds of conflict that they are facing".

Brown said the government had spent £6bn on "urgent operational requirements" on top of the ordinary defence budget for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think he'll also know that when it comes to giving our fighting troops the equipment they need, we have made major investments both now and for the future, including in tanks and helicopters for Afghanistan," he told MPs.

Clegg also criticised £6bn of spending on the Eurofighter when "we're failing to deliver enough of the right kinds of armoured vehicles to our troops on the ground in Afghanistan".

But the prime minister said the plane was "of use in the theatres of war in which we are operating".