The Ministry of Defence has been accused of giving "misleading" answers to MPs scrutinising its budget.

The defence committee said it appeared the MoD was "in the process of taking steps to manage a funding gap of £21bn" when officials gave evidence last year.

But it added that witnesses' denials of the existence of such a gap at that time "now appear disingenuous".

Defence minister Quentin Davies said nearly 90% of defence projects had been delivered to cost.

The Commons defence committee highlighted last year's National Audit Office criticism of the MoD's "save now, pay later approach" - delaying projects in the short term but driving up eventual costs by hundreds of millions of pounds.

Witness denials

The defence committee said when it questioned MoD witnesses about funding problems last year, they did not give straight answers.

"The evidence suggests that at the time ... the MoD was in the process of taking steps to manage a funding gap of £21bn," the report said.
BBC News - MoD 'misleading' over budget problems, say MPs