Armed forces chiefs say scrapping Harrier was the right thing to do Labour has stepped up pressure on the government over its decision to scrap Harrier jump jets.
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has accused Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey of getting his facts wrong when he said the government would save more by scrapping Harriers than Tornados.
Mr Murphy has called on the government to publish all the advice it received on the issue to end “confusion”.
It comes as peers debate the government’s defence review.
Mr Murphy said: “Serious people have raised serious concerns about the government’s decision to scrap Harriers and all ministers have succeeded in doing is add to the confusion.
“It’s now time to publish the MoD advice and full costs of terminating the Harrier fleet and suspend the decision until we have had a proper debate.”
Opening the defence debate for the government, Lord Astor said the decision to scrap Harrier had been a “military judgement” and not just about costs.
He added: “Deleting the entire Tornado fleet would save three times more money.”
But in an interview earlier this week, Lib Dem minister Nick Harvey appeared to suggest that the government would save more by scrapping Tornados.
Jim Murphy has written to Mr Harvey demanding an end to the “confusion”, asking the minister: “Given the importance of this issue, will you publish all of the costings that led to this decision being taken?”
The row comes as the heads of Britain’s armed forces backed the government’s defence review in a letter to The Times.
“Harrier’s contribution has been huge but the decision to withdraw it was the right thing to do in the circumstances,” write the service chiefs, adding that the Falkland Islands could still be defended without Harrier.
Lib Dem peer Lord Lee of Trafford said the defence review was “too rushed and too Treasury-dominated”.
And he criticised the “bizarre decision” to axe the entire Harrier to fleet, which he said would only save £100m a year, arguing that a reserve Harrier force should have been maintained, with cuts to the Tornado fleet.
But he backed the government’s decision to delay the final decision on replacing Trident nuclear weapons and the recent Anglo-French deal on defence co-operation.
A host of ex-military chiefs and former defence secretaries are expected to criticise the government’s defence review during the debate, which will cut about 17,000 personnel, scrap the Harrier fleet and Nimrod spy planes and retire the HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier.
The debate will see a maiden speech from Labour former defence secretary Lord Hutton of Furness as well as speeches from ex-defence secretaries Lord Reid of Cardowan, Lord King of Bridgwater and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen.
Earlier this week, a group of former Royal Navy chiefs urged the government to reverse the decision to scrap Ark Royal and the Harriers, warning it would leave the oil-rich Falkland Islands open to a fresh Argentinian attack.
The signatories, which included former head of the Navy Admiral Lord West of Spithead, claimed Prime Minister David Cameron was badly advised before agreeing to the cuts.
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