Full list of defence cuts provided by shadow defence secretary to Guardian before publication shows £5bn in savings
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Jim Murphy provided the Guardian with a full list identifying £5bn of defence cuts. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA Wire/PA Photos
The famous advice of Deep Throat to Woodward and Bernstein in the dark underground car park during the Watergate investigation applies to the world of politics as much as it does to investigative journalism. "Follow the money," the FBI agent Mark Felt is said to advised the two Washington Post reporters.
The Tories decided to follow Felt's advice today after Jim Murphy told me in a Guardian interview that Labour would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts.
In a press release this evening, which accuses Labour of "hypocrisy", the Tories accused the shadow defence secretary of identifying only £3.49bn in cuts. Were this to be true it would be a perfect line of attack for the Conservatives. If a party fails to make its numbers add up it has no credibility.
There was just one problem with the Tory press release. It was untrue. The Tories made the mistake because they added together the cuts listed in my article. But I was careful to make clear that I was not providing a comprehensive list because I was only including some of the cuts.
We did not have the space to list the cuts in full. So, for the record, here they are. These were provided to me by Murphy's office before I wrote my article and blog:
Labour's defence savings
Reduction in heavy armoured platforms, £35m
Withdraw the three variants of the TriStar transport/tanker aircraft from service, £50m
Nimrod MR4, £2bn (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
One Bay-class amphibious support ship, £25m
Non-frontline savings:
Rationalisation of the defence estate, £350m
Reduce media and communications, £65m
Reductions on commodity spend, £80m
Cuts to civilian allowances, £205m
Revision to Administrative Costs Regime, £800m
Sales of assets such as the Defence Support Group and the Marchwood Sea Mounting Centre and the Defence stake in the telecommunications spectrum, £500m
Other:
Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme (this makes efficiencies in the Trident renewal programme), £900m (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
Total: £5.010bn (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
As I wrote on Thursday, Labour has identified other areas where it will accept further cuts. But the government is not releasing details in these areas which means Labour has more work to do to put a figure on these savings. Murphy made clear to me that when this work is completed Labour will eventually accept more than £5bn of defence cuts.
It is not for me to defend Murphy. But it is my job to correct the record if a Guardian article is misrepresented. The Tories declined to correct their press release.