David Davies, MP for Monmouth, today announced a stunning catalogue of waste, losses and thefts from the Ministry of Defence that has cost tax payers almost a third of a billion pounds in the last year alone. The laundry-list of errors and mismanagement at their worst included £51 million that was written off following the dropping of a communications contract, and £65 million that was lost following the “impairment” of an operational building. Further stunning examples of squandered money included £151,000 that was wasted when 42 fully-functioning helicopter rotor blades were accidentally scrapped, and the £143,972 worth of food that had to be binned after a Marine deployment to Norway was cancelled. Perhaps most bizarrely though, £584,000 was spent on designed a new roof at RNAS Yeovilton, after the first roof was built so high that the control tower couldn’t see the planes landing on the runway. Speaking from Monmouth today, Mr. Davies said, “One of the main responsibilities of backbench MPs is keeping a close eye on the way the Government spends the tax money that it receives from constituents. At surgery I am always hearing from people who can’t get housing, or who have been waiting for a vital operation, or are campaigning against their children’s school being closed down due to lack of funding. “If there is no money for schools and operations, then people have the right to know why not. The staggering wastage that I have uncovered by questioning the Ministry of Defence only goes to confirm our worst fears – that tax revenue seems to be being poured down the plughole by a hugely wasteful and irresponsible Government. “This kind of easy-come, easy-go approach to money is simply unbelievable, and I can only imagine that the Ministry are deeply embarrassed that these figures have been revealed to the public. I shall be continuing to determine exactly where the money of the hard working people of Monmouthshire is ending up”.