Royal Navy's new Type 26 frigates are '˜budgeted for' Portsmouth MP says

CLAIMS a £5.8bn black hole in the Ministry of Defence's budgets could threaten the navy's future fleet of new frigates have been downplayed.

On Friday the National Audit Office (NAO) issued a damning review of the MoD’s finances, claiming it would need to make additional savings of almost £6bn to afford its defence equipment plan for the next decade.

As part of its report, the Whitehall watchdog said it was ‘unsure’ how the MoD could pay for its new Type 26 Global Combat Ship; steel on the first of these cutting-edge warships is due to be cut this summer.

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But Portsmouth South MP, Flick Drummond, has scuppered the concerns, saying she is confident the work programme won’t be affected.

She said: ‘The work of the NAO is very important in seeing clearly where taxpayers’ money is spent. In regards to its conclusions on the Type 26 frigates, the government has said building them will start this year and the programme is fully funded. We look forward to seeing these warships in Portsmouth.’