Afghan asylum scheme set to cost an EXTRA £2.5bn as MoD asks Parliament for additional funds

The MoD claimed it needed the extra money to get straight after it “withheld” the spending from public scrutiny - a huge effect on public finances after the Afghan data breach scandal was covered up.

The leak saw a spreadsheet containing the personal details of almost 19,000 people fleeing the Taliban to the UK accidentally leaked by an official working at UK Special Forces headquarters in February 2022.

The file, which ended up in the hands of the Taliban, also contained the identities of more than 100 British spies and Special Forces personnel.

Up to £7bn was outlined to move tens of thousands of Afghan nationals to the UK under the tories - making up a huge proportion of the "black hole" inherited by the now Labour government after the 2024 election.

High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain, who eventually lifted the super-injunction to publicise the information, said last year that the Government had lied to Parliament and to the public.

He said in court: “How feasible is it to spend that amount of money without the facts coming to light? But we are now saying how it was feasible - making a statement that provides cover and agree a narrative which is not a true narrative, or not a full narrative".

The MoD's requested £2.5billion has been described as an "accounting exercise" that involved changing how money already spent was accounted for, rather than a fresh injection of cash.

In Treasury documents published this week, the MoD said it required an additional expenditure of £2,564,517,000, intended to cover “a prior year adjustment within the 2024–25 financial statements” caused by the subterfuge of the data leak.

Officials admitted: “The adjustment was necessary to take into account new information that the Department withheld from the National Audit Office during the audit of the 2023-24 financial statements.

"The Department did not allow for the impact of this adjustment in either its Main or Supplementary Estimates".

The £2.5 billion is reportedly not being taken from this year’s defence budget, nor from future years’ spending plans.

An MoD spokesman said: “We’ve fully laid out the estimated costs of the schemes under the Afghan Resettlement Programme, which are expected to be between £5.5-6 billion as the schemes complete.

“Within those figures, it’s estimated that costs Afghan Response Route, which relates to the data breach, may be up to £850m.

"This adjustment reflects a change to an accounting provision for liability in a previous year’s financial statements. It is not additional cash or in‑year spending incurred by the department".