Chronic shortages of weapons and equipment in the Armed Forces are being glossed over by Labour in a £300billion ‘cover-up’, MPs have claimed.

A failure to produce reports for Parliament has left the committees charged with scrutinising spending in the dark over what Britain needs to buy to defend itself.

The Mail understands the failure to publish the Equipment Plan has been caused by ministers and senior officials having no idea how much money they will have to spend.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has imposed spending restrictions on the Armed Forces amid a stagnating economy. Consequently, military chiefs no longer expect the UK to meet the target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence this year.

In a rare joint statement, Sir Geoffrey Clinton-Brown, the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, and Tan Dhesi, chairman of the defence committee, said: ‘The reality is that transparency on acquisition, expenditure and capability has decreased, severely undermining the ability of both committees to scrutinise the estimated £300billion of taxpayers’ money planned to be spent on defence equipment over the next decade.’

Labour is glossing over chronic shortages of army weapons and equipment in a £300billion ‘cover-up’, MPs have warned (file photo)

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has imposed spending restrictions on the Armed Forces amid a stagnating economy, meaning that Britain is no longer set to make its target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence this year

Tory Armed Forces spokesman Mark Francois said ministers’ sums ‘no longer added up’. The situation has been exacerbated by this country’s support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia coming at a significant cost to its defences. The Mail’s ‘Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless’ campaign calls for an immediate cash boost for the Armed Forces.

The UK is thought to be running low on ammunition of all calibres and its air defences have been compromised. Tanks, missiles and rocket launchers are also in short supply.

Last night, a senior defence source said: ‘The situation is absolute chaos. The services require additional investment and clarity – both have been taken away.’