THE Tories today stood accused of undermining the Eurofighter project by their claims that a Labour government would scrap the futuristic war plane.
The allegation came during bitter clashes in the Commons.
Tory MPs led by Ribble Valley's Nigel Evans warned that a Labour defence review, if Tony Blair entered Downing Street, could scrap or scale down orders.
Former air force pilot Bill Walker repeated Defence Secretary Michael Portillo's claim that the saga of Labour scrapping the TSR2 in the 1960s would be repeated with the Eurofighter.
But Labour front benchers angrily denied this.
Armed forced spokesman John Spellar said: "The government have reduced the number of aircraft from 250 to 232. Let me make it clear. We are committed to the programme as it stands.
"We will order the Eurofighter, provided there is a continuing agreement about work share and financial arrangements acceptable to the British government and our industry."
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