Vernon Coaker MP, Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary, responding to a leaked documents obtained by The Times newspaper on failures at the Ministry of Defence, said:

“This leaked report points to the latest series of catastrophic failures at the Ministry of Defence on David Cameron’s watch.

“Labour warned that the Government was taking risks with Britain’s security by not fixing the reserve recruitment crisis before reducing numbers in the regular Army. We specifically raised the worrying IT problems and Capita’s performance as causes for concern. But the Government recklessly pressed ahead.

“Now we learn that the problems were worse than anyone thought and still haven’t been fixed. The blame for this latest fiasco - which is wasting £1m of taxpayers money every month - lies squarely with Government. Philip Hammond needs to get a grip and sort this shambles out.”