asked the Minister of Defence how far expenditure on the armed Forces and defence is expected to fall short of the amount budgeted in the current financial year.

As I stated in the course of the Defence Debate on 6th December, we shall not succeed in spending the£1,250 million originally budgeted for in the current financial year. I am not yet in a position to estimate accurately how far expenditure will fall short of that figure.

In view of the fact that the Prime Minister made the very uncompromising statement that we would not reach the target, can he give us some indication of the calculations on which he based his statement?

I have nothing to add to my answer.