Tories would review MoD contracts

An incoming Tory government would renegotiate all Ministry of Defence contracts, according to shadow defence secretary Liam Fox.

News wire Bloomberg reported that Fox said the Tories would start a review of contracts immediately upon entering office, and before the outcome of a planned wider review into defence priorities is known.

Fox said: "We will have to look at all contracts again. All major defence contracts can be better value for money.”

He said that “right across the business world people are re-examining contracts to see how they can save money in a recession; the same has to happen in defence.”

The MoD has a £20bn construction procurement pipeline and is already known to be rethinking its prime contracting framework system. Fox did not clarify whether his comments referred only to the procurement of defence equipment or included construction procurement also.