Nick Clegg has started to put some meat on the bones of his £20 billion spending cut strategy. He's now laid out how he will save a third of the money. This involves...
* Removing high earners from receiving tax credits AGREE
* Scrap child trust funds AGREE
* Shelve 90% of road building programme DISAGREE
* Save £1 billion from DCSF budget AGREE
* Abolish National Teaching Strategy AGREE
I have tried to find more details about this on the LibDems website and LibDem Voice, but there is no mention of anything at all. I agree with all the above suggestions expect the scrapping of 90% of the road building programme. In a time of economic downturn infrastricture projects are needed more than ever, especially with regard to the jobs they create. Our roads system has been cut to the bone by the current government and is in no position to be cut further.
We should remember that these £7 billion of cuts amount to only just over 1% of total government spending. They are remarkably unambitious. But no matter, they are a start, and this is an area the Conservatives would do well to concentrate on in advance of an election, because sure as night follows day, they are going to be faced with some very unpalatable public spending decisions to take. The preparation needs to be done now, not in the weeks after June 2010.
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ReplyDeleteAdditional suggestions:
ReplyDeleteCut govt PR budget to zero: £1 billion saving per annum
Cut ID card scheme: £2 billion per annum
Cut corrupt govt spending on 'charities' which should be properly done by private donation or govt spending: £1 billion per annum.
I've spent 5 minutes thinking about this and already I've saved £5 billion per annum, without any reduction in services people want. Surely the Conservatives could do better?
So we can look forward to Lib Dem MPs supporting a future Conservative government in these measures ?
ReplyDeleteOr will they find ways to weasel out of their commitments?
Too little and Far too late, that is their policy this week, what happened to them wanting to put pesonal taxes up so recently ?
ReplyDeleteGovernment could save a fortune by stopping their contributions to 'Fake Charities'
ReplyDeleteIn a time of economic downturn infrastricture projects are needed more than ever, especially with regard to the jobs they create.
ReplyDeleteGetting all Keynesian on us now? (or just grubbing for votes?)
I agree with most of your comments. seems crazy to me for cutting road building, ebcause a lot of them are very old and need funding. Don't agree with getting rid of child trust funds as they get used to saving money and will know to spend it wisely once they get it when they are 18.
ReplyDeleteLast week, the abolition of the Child Trust Fund was supposed to fund maximum class sies of 15 for 5-7 year olds. Perhaps this is 2009's version of the magic 1p on income tax that used to be earmarked for a dozen different spending priorities.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how scrapping the Child Trust Fund is supposed to pay for halving the size of infant classes. Assuming that classes are currently full (30 children), then the abolition of the CTF would be 30 x £250 = £7,500. How this is supposed to pay for an extra teacher's salary for each of the first two years at infant school and that doesn't even start to include the extra capital costs of expanding / modifying schools to provide the extra classrooms.
"Removing high earners from receiving tax credits"
ReplyDeleteDisagree, that's our effing money that we paid.
The Liberal Democrat's are doomed - DOOMED at the next election!
ReplyDeleteld'S ARE lABOUR'S SOUTHERN STOODGES - TIME TO KICK THE LD'S OUT!
LD LD LD - Out Out Out!
LD Defection on the cards?
http://nickcleggneilkinnock.blogspot.com/
Anoneumouse said... “Government could save a fortune by stopping their contributions to 'Fake Charities'”
ReplyDeleteCharities? Yes! End the completely bogus so-called ‘charitable’ status of “public” schools now and immediately increase the tax take from them. And what were all those stories last week about the government trying to rescue those of the ghastly places that were going bust?
As for genuine charities - aren’t many going quietly under at the moment?
An email from the LD Political Information and Communications Section just received states:
ReplyDelete‘The following areas of government spending will be reallocated to Liberal Democrat priority spending:
Spending Area Cost (millions)
Taking people on higher incomes out of Tax Credits - Tax Credits are currently paid to 9 out of 10 families with children, we will restrict tax credit payments to those on average and below average incomes. £3,180
Cut the national road building programme - We will cut the road building programme for national trunk roads and motorways by 90%. £980
Cutting Train to Gain - We will transfer the projected growth in Train to Gain to apprenticeships and community learning. £520
Abolition of the Child Trust Fund - We will scrap the Government's Child Trust Fund payments at birth and age 7. £510
Abolish National Strategies - We will scrap the centrally driven National Strategies and put the money into the pupil premium. £490
Cross-government IT cuts - We will create a level playing field for IT contract to allow the wider use of open source software. £300
Scrapping raising the leaving age - We will scrap the Government's plans to raise the education leaving age to 18. £300
Scrapping DCSF departmental quangos and cutting central administration - We will cut central administration budgets and scale down the size of the DCSF and its quangos. £205
Reduced government advertising - We will return the government advertising budget in real terms back to 1997 levels. £200
Scrap the LSC - We will scrap the Learning and Skills Council and its successor quangos, merging it with HEFCE to cut admin costs. £50
TOTAL £6,735
These figures are indicative and are subject to change dependent on government policy and spending announcements. A full spending review will be released with the manifesto which will outline complete plans for the next parliament.’