Urgent warning over fears Labour could ditch F-35 fighter jet plans to plug blackhole
The former head of the British Army says it would be madness not to make sure Britain has enough aircraft with the right capability.
The Labour Government has been warned not to abandon the UK's F-35 in a bid to plug a multibillion-pound black hole in the public finances.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to warn things in Britain will get worse before they get better in his first major speech since Labour swept into Downing Street in July.
Sir Keir is expected to repeat the line that the new Government discovered a £22billion black hole when it took office. This is despite repeated warnings over the state of the public finances from leading think tanks such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies during the general election.
Defence sources have said there are mounting concerns the Ministry of Defence might scale back the number of fifth-generation F-35Bs it buys given its struggle to find the money to buy 138 as originally planned. The MoD has placed an order for 48 of the jets and received 34 so far.
The F-35B is one of the world's most advanced fighter jets and is regularly deployed on NATO operations. Approximately 15 percent of the F-35 programme is built by the UK, contributing to Britain's economic growth and securing highly-skilled jobs.
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Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, told The Telegraph: "Given the huge investment already made in the Carrier Strike Group programme it would be madness not to further invest and make sure we have enough aircraft with the right capability, otherwise the whole programme could look like a white elephant."
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, then Minister of State at the MoD, told Parliament in February that the then-Conservative government remained committed to purchasing 138 of the aircraft.
The Tories confirmed earlier this year that they were engaged in negotiations to buy 27 more F-35Bs for delivery by 2033.
Government sources have told the Telegraph the MoD is committed to the programme. But the next annual report on infrastructure and major projects is reportedly expected to include a high number of "red ratings" in relation to some MoD schemes. A red rating means the delivery of a project is deemed to be unachievable.
Britain's F-35B Lightning Programme was given an amber rating last year, improving from a red rating the year before.
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The Spear Cap 3 missile system designed to deliver the F-35 fleet's air-to-air ground weapon was also given a red rating in the last Infrastructure and Projects Authority report.
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has previously said the costs of the F-35s were "unacceptably high". Each jet comes with a price tag of around £90million.
The Labour Government launched a strategic defence review in July, led by former NATO secretary general Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who also served as defence secretary under Tony Blair.
Lord Craig of Radley warned at the end of last month against any move to pull the plug on the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), amid concerns over the funding of that scheme.
The GCAP brings together the UK, Italy and Japan to work on delivering cutting-edge stealth combat aircraft by 2035. The planes will be known as Tempest in the UK and serve as a successor to the RAF Typhoon.
A source at the MoD told Express.co.uk there will be no comment until after the publication of the strategic defence review.
