MoD’s annual accounts for 2024/5 receive a ‘qualified audit’. What basis is this for public spending assurances as defence budgets reach new highs?

The Ministry of Defence has received a qualified audit opinion after auditors found £6.13 billion in unverifiable assets (mostly linked to the Atomic Weapons Establishment) an overspend of £2.56 billion beyond parliamentary limits, and systemic record-keeping failures so severe that even its own finance chief, Aneen Blackmore, said she was “disappointed”.