The British cabinet signs off on both the money available for defence and the major items to be procured. When the approved equipment programme costs more than the approved budget, public criticism often falls on the Ministry of Defence. The same political leadership authorized both sides of the mismatch. Responsibility for an underfunded equipment plan therefore extends to the cabinet that approved it.
Notable Point · 1:24:24-1:25:03
Who owns the mismatch in British defence procurement?
Cabinet approves both the defence budget and the equipment programme, so an unfunded mismatch cannot be assigned to the Ministry of Defence alone.