Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee slammed the Ministry of Defence for lacking transparency on nuclear spending, which consumes a fifth of the UK defence budget. The committee highlighted that the Defence Nuclear Enterprise failed to provide accounting records for more than £6bn of assets in its 2024‑25 report. Investors eye the sector’s opaque cost structure and escalating costs and public scrutiny.

The report also castigated the Ajax armoured vehicle programme, whose cost has ballooned beyond £6bn and whose suitability remains questioned after soldier injuries during training. Delays in releasing the defence investment plan added to uncertainty, prompting the government to create a new Commons committee for nuclear expenditure oversight—its first parliamentary scrutiny of the sector, raising concerns for contractors and taxpayers.

Projected nuclear spending is set to rise from £10.9bn this year to 20 per cent of the defence budget next year, with a planned £41bn investment in a new class of Dreadnought submarines. The lack of clear accounting threatens investor confidence and may pressure defence contractors to tighten cost controls amid escalating programme overruns and government oversight and stricter reporting.