Trident: Parliament can't account for multi-billion spend

The cost of long-lead items for replacing Trident — in plain English, the big contracts for years of work — cannot be accounted for, according to Liam Fox, Defence Secretary.

Fox stated to Parliament that 'the cost of long-lead items for the Vanguard class are not held centrally'.

Some may consider this unsurprising given the historically weak relationships recorded between the MOD, Parliament and BAE. But this triumvirate, between them, is supposed to manage and deliver what will be the UK's biggest ever defence programme. If the costs are not held centrally, how do they know how much is being spent?