Lack of aircraft carrier is a major risk, says audit

The defence review that will leave Britain without an aircraft carrier for 10 years was flawed and driven by cost-cutting, a report said today.

The National Audit Office said changes to the carrier programme in the Strategic Defence and Security Review had created "significant levels of operational, technical, cost and schedule uncertainty" and could still fail to deliver a carrier on time.

In a critical report, the NAO warned there were "major risks" in the Government's plans to leave Britain without a carrier until 2020. It said the Ministry of Defence will not fully understand the consequences of its decisions for another two years, with the final cost of the programme now set to exceed £10 billion.

Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the "lack of transparency" over the programme was "not acceptable".