Warning over defence provisions

The Conservatives have warned that the system of defence spending is "a guarantee to bleed the military dry over time".

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox told MPs that the government had said provisions for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were recovered from the Treasury reserve.

"This year, with troops active in Iraq and Afghanistan and with fuel costs soaring, the MoD will be forced to cut £400m from its own budget as a result," he said.

"What sort of crazy agreement penalises the military when it gets new equipment and cuts the core budget in the middle of two wars.

"This arrangement is not the Treasury reserve carrying the burden of Afghanistan but a guarantee to bleed the military dry over time."

Defence secretary Des Browne said the total cost of fuel last year for the MoD was "about a quarter" of what Fox had suggested.

"I have never been refused any request I have made for urgent operational requirements for the Treasury and I don't expect I ever will," he told MPs.