Hutton to face fresh questions from MPs over army equipment

John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Defence, is to face questions in Parliament after a senior SAS commander resigned in a row over the standard of equipment used to protect troops in Afghanistan.

Major Sebastian Morley was said to have warned the Ministry of Defence that forces were suffering from "chronic underinvestment" in a blistering resignation letter, which also accused the Government of "gross negligence".

Major Morley's anger was fuelled by the deaths of four of his soldiers in a bomb attack on a Snatch Land Rover, a lightweight vehicle reknown for its poor protection against land mines. Concern about the use of "Snatches" has been an ongoing issue for the past six years: the thin-skinned vehicles have been targeted repeatedly with roadside bombs during military operations in Iraq and then again in Afghanistan.

A Government minister tonight hit back Major Morley's claims calling them a "travesty". Defence Minister Quentin Davies said safer vehicles were now available. "There may be occasions when in retrospect a commander chose the wrong piece of equipment, the wrong vehicle, for that particular threat that the patrol encountered and we had some casualties as a result. I am afraid that is true about war and that will always be the case. The idea that the Ministry of Defence is just completely cavalierly indifferent to the need to get the right kit into theatre is just such a travesty of reality that it is actually quite difficult to take," he said last night.

Major Morley's exit sparked accusations the Government had ignored warnings and was too late bringing in better protected vehicles. More than 30 soldiers have died and scores more injured in Snatch Land Rovers over the past five years.

Major Morley's resignation came just days after Mr Hutton announced he would buy a further batch of Land Rovers for the Army, albeit the more heavily armoured Snatch Vixen variant. The new vehicles are not, however, expected to reach training camps until next year and there were calls yesterday for upgrades to be made as soon as possible. The Tory defence spokesman, Liam Fox, said delays in government spending could be traced back to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's reluctance to "fund Tony Blair's war". "It is our brave fighting men and women who have to bear the cost of Brown's lack of commitment," he said. "That we should be losing talented and experienced officers is a tragedy." Liberal Democrat spokesman Nick Harvey added: "Many voices have been warning about the inadequacy of our vehicles in Afghanistan, and the Government should have acted very much sooner."

Rose Gentle, whose son Fusilier Gordon Gentle died in a roadside bomb attack in Basra in June 2004, said: "I'm glad that Major Morley is making a stand. I only hope it means the Government will finally withdraw these vehicles. It should have been done a long, long time ago."

While defence sources said his resignation was for "personal reasons", Major Morley was said to be furious at the deaths from a roadside bomb of Cpl Sarah Bryant and her male colleagues L/Cpl Richard Larkin, Cpl Sean Reeve and Paul Stout, while driving a Snatch Land Rover in Afghanistan's Helmand province in June.

Major General Patrick Cordingly, a commander in the first Gulf War, said: "I think people are entitled to be angry. My criticism of the Government is that it hasn't appreciated that if you are going to involve yourself in warfare, then you have to accept that it is going to be expensive and it costs money to protect your troops. The safest way to move personnel around is by air – but there are not enough helicopters in Afghanistan."

The MoD is already facing legal action from Sue Smith, whose son Private Phillip Hewitt died in an explosion in Iraq in July 2005. She is suing for negligence and a breach of her son's human rights, claiming he was sent out in a vehicle which offered no protection against the threat of roadside bombs.

The Army is equipped with the beefier Mastiff vehicle in Afghanistan, which is larger than a Land Rover and more resistant to mines, although there are far fewer available to commanders. The MoD announced on Thursday it was spending £700m on 760 new vehicles including a more agile, all-terrain truck known as the Jackal, and 120 Snatch Vixens.

Mr Hutton said: "We cannot make Snatch invulnerable. Any vehicle can be overmatched if faced with an overwhelming attack, but these modifications mean that Snatch Vixen will offer the highest levels of protection for its size and weight class."

Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP and a former infantry commander, said Snatch Land Rovers were still being inappropriately deployed for more dangerous assignments. "The soldiers out there are appalled. There has been a lack of urgency from the government and frankly lives could have been protected. There are vehicles out there that offer much more protection you can buy them off the shelf , but they cost money. While the Government can find billions of pounds to bail out banks, there isn't money to protect the Armed Forces. The Snatch is completely inadequate for operations but I'm quite sure they are still being used," he said.