More flak for the Ministry of Defence

Bach: amazed that British Aerospace admits to bidding low

Breakfast's main story this morning was the continuing row over events at the Ministry of Defence

After being blamed earlier this week for shortages of equipment in the Iraq war, the MoD now faces official criticism for over-spending - to the tune of £3bn.

The National Audit Office highlights a number of problems with weapons programmes such as the Eurofighter jet - and it's warning that things could get even worse.

Breakfast talked to the man in charge of the MoD's budgets, the Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach.

He told us that much of the overspend was related to projects started by the previous Conservative government - which a new "smart procurement" system was meant to overcome.

One former chief of British Aerospace, Sir Raymond Lygo, is reported to have said the company deliberately quoted unrealistically low prices for its contracts and raised them later.

"That was a pretty amazing quote," Lord Bach told Breakfast "and we will be looking at it quite closely."

We talked to the Conservatives' Defence Spokesman Gerald Howarth.

His view: it's time the government stopped blaming its predecessors and got a grip on its budget.

"The worrying thing is that Smart Procurement isn't working," he told us."This government has been in office for seven years - it's not reasonable to hold us responsible for everything."

We talked to defence analyst Ellie Goldsworthy. A former soldier, she told us the MoD is trying to implement a new purchasing system which aims to avoid overspending.

For further details and full analysis, click here for BBC News Online's full story