Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak in Downing Street on July 8, 2020 in London, England — Rishi Sunak in Downing Street in July 2020 when he was Chancellor (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo).

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Government has wasted £2.08bn on nuclear capabilities, Labour says

The Labour Party has compiled a dossier of what it suggests is "extensive waste" under Rishi Sunak during his time as Chancellor and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2021-22 and 2019-20.

The dossier, titled 'One hundred examples of wasted money on Rishi Sunak's watch', includes 11 military examples of how the Prime Minister has seen money 'wasted' under his supervision before he took the top job.

Labour also claimed the four new Dreadnought submarines being manufactured to house the UK's nuclear deterrent, Trident, are already £29m over budget, according to the National Audit Office.

Additionally, the dossier states losses attributed to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) include the cost overrun of £1.07bn on a new warhead facility and £1.01bn on the procurement of Astute nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Labour has claimed that a total of £2.08bn was wasted in overrun costs on the warhead facility and an upgrade to UK's nuclear submarine fleet.

A new warhead programme was announced in February 2020, entering its 'readiness phase' in the financial year 2019-20.

The Government spent £214m on the project up to the end of the financial year 2020-21.

Watch: First steel cut on Royal Navy's third Dreadnought submarine.

The warhead is likely to come into service some time in the late 2030s or early 2040s.

According to the Nuclear Information Service (NIS), a not-for-profit research organisation, in September 2020 the government announced that the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), where the UK's nuclear warheads are designed and produced, was being brought back into public ownership.

"This was partly due to the poor performance under the previous contract in terms of value for money, regulatory compliance and programme delivery," an NIS report said in August 2022.

The Astute nuclear-powered submarines are one of the most sophisticated submarines ever built.

While they do not carry nuclear weapons, each submarine's Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor allows them to remain operational for 25 years without refuelling.

In total, Labour has said that Rishi Sunak's "wasteful" Government spending and departmental losses have cost the taxpayer up to £26.8bn, when he was Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The list also includes examples of sums lost due to fraud and faulty personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, through poorly planned defence procurement and on private consultancy fees.

The other areas the dossier claims money was wasted under Sunak's watch include: