Ajax: MP urges ministers to decide armoured vehicle's fate

Uncertainty over the Army's troubled Ajax armoured vehicle programme is "causing real anxiety" for Welsh workers, MPs have been told.

The UK government was urged to make a decision on the programme's future at Defence Questions in the Commons.

The project has been running for 12 years but is yet to deliver, after serious issues with noise and vibration caused injury and sickness to soldiers.

Manufacturer General Dynamics employs 800 in Merthyr Tydfil and Oakdale.

A recent National Audit Office report cast doubt over the future of the Ajax project, and said its problems "might prove insurmountable".

Chris Evans, the Labour MP for Islwyn and shadow defence procurement minister, told the Commons: "This position is not sustainable in the local economy or the Welsh economy.

"It is causing real anxiety amongst the workers... and the local supply chain.

"Just when will the government give an answer about what they are going to do about Ajax?

"Anybody who has anything to do with Ajax will say that, after 12 years, enough is enough."

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he understood Mr Evans' frustration and the frustration of workers.

He said: "We have to proceed based on science and evidence. We are bound, like General Dynamics, to a contract and I do not want to say anything that would jeopardise those positions.

"We have done independent trials. When those results are forthcoming we can obviously have a further discussion.

"I met with the head of General Dynamics recently and made it very very clear my position on what the next steps are. As I've said from the beginning: we won't accept into service a vehicle that is not fit for purpose."

The MoD has a contract for 589 vehicles worth £5.5bn.

So far, £3.2bn has been spent but Mr Wallace said further payments have been withheld since December 2020.