Osborne announced £81 billion reduction in public expenditure
As George Osborne ploughed through the list of ‘efficiency savings’, it seemed as though he struggled to iterate what he was orchestrating. Almost with a guilty conscience, he reached for his glass of water after every departmental shrinkage plan. The monetary arm of the state is no longer the source of promise that has rescued those trapped on the peripheries of society, it has now turned away. With this it has put the futures of a generation at risk:
- It has forced those who work so diligently to offset their well-earned retirement plans, by increasing the retirement age. This is compounded by a further £3.5 billion worth of contributions that have to be made by public sector workers for their pension schemes.
- The departmental cuts total £46 billion, including 27% from local government, 29% from the environment and 23% from the Home Office.
- It has taken a further £50 a week from those who genuinely claim incapacity benefit, and has stripped another £7 billion from the Welfare budget (the equivalent of £1000 a year from 7 million families) on top of the £11 billion cuts announced previously. Those depending on tax credits and housing benefits will now get a significant amount less or nothing at all.
- 40% cut in Higher Education- stifling the chances of many innovative and bright young people to excel in the world of academia. My thoughts on this are in a previous blog written recently.
- The Ministry of Defence will face an 8% reduction in funding which equates to the loss of 42,000 army personnel or civil servant jobs over the next five years.
- He announced that the commitment to the renovation and new building of social housing will be cut by 60% over the next four years.
The list is endless. To take £81 billion out of the budget through depreciating government spending in the vital services and help that our society necessitates over the next four years is without question showing a complete disregard for the poorest and most vulnerable in society. It is widening the gulf between the top of the social ladder and the bottom, and it recklessly diminishes the future prospects of those not even born yet. And as the Tory backbenchers praised and cheered their man’s vast Spending Review it got me thinking- this ties in with traditional and recurring Tory principles- to hold the poorest at arm’s length, and let the rich get richer.
Kieran
Good post, and good inverted commas around efficiency savings. I really can’t see how cutting welfare is going to make anything run more smoothly.
Cuts have to happen, there is no denying that. But £81 billion in such a short period of time is reckless- it is taking a huge risk with the livelihoods of many.
This blog is exactly why Labour lost the election. So out of touch
What, by caring for the futures of the less well off? Labour made countless mistakes in their 13 year tenure and towards the end they had lost their way which was perhaps inevitable. But the Tories have never been in ‘touch’ with reality, and to punish the poorest when its the rich who created the financial problem in the first place is an abomination.
“So out of touch” I suppose it is amazing how many fools think we have to pay the debt off.
Good writing mate. Only one query… do you really believe that we can postpone raising the retirement age? If the government is going to make cuts, one extra year in work for a population living much longer isn’t the worst way to alleviate some of the burden.
I agree with Jon. I’m prepared to work to 75 if my taxes will be spent on a decent NHS keeping me mentally and physically healthy.
If Labour cared about the futures of the less well off they wouldn’t have racked up such a deficit in the first place. The vast majority of economic bodies and world organisations are fully behind the coalition calling their plans neccessary and brave.
Dan, it was either “racking up the debts” or preventing a complete and utter financial meltdown to which most of the world agreed was the right choice & yes Dan the likes of IMF are behind the action taken, but I distinctly remember the IMF saying similar things about the austerity measures in Ireland 2 years ago.
Thatcher was proved right in the 1980s after which Labour were crushed and forced to come round to her way of thinking to even consider getting elected again, and the Coalition will be proved right in time.