Chancellor pledges additional funds for operations

The Chancellor has confirmed an initial indication of £2 billion for the costs of military operations in the coming financial year, 2008/09 in the budget today, Wednesday 12 March 2008.

This money is in addition to the core defence budget, and will be used to ensure that the UK’s Armed Forces have the best possible equipment and protection while they are on operations.

This is the first time that an indication of the additional cost of operations’ in Iraq and Afghanistan has been published and will be confirmed in the MOD’s Estimates Memorandum (the MOD’s note on its Main Estimates i.e. the core defence budget for 08/09) to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

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The MOD intends to order additional M-WMIK vehicles for Afghanistan and this is included in this indicated operational spend. The Treasury has agreed to fund this procurement and it will be taken forward in due course.

The MOD will update this operational budget as the financial year goes on, with an Estimate in Winter and then again in the Spring. This is because operations move quickly and we need to adjust our operational spending to the threat on the ground.

The defence budget for 2008/09 to 2010/11 was settled in the Comprehensive Spending Review announced in July 2007, and published in October 2007. This budget re-confirms our 2008/09 budget and includes the Chancellor’s initial indication for the additional money for operations from the Reserve.