Monday 26 March 2012

Cuts – what cuts?



There is currently much foaming at the mouth in Britain by public sector workers on account of government having allegedly cut public sector budgets. However John Redwood claims that Office for Budget Responsibility figures show that there haven’t been any cuts.

I probably won’t have time to get to the bottom of this, but it looks interesting.





1 comment:

  1. Fortunately I can save you a job.

    John is absolutely correct - there haven't been any cuts in spending + investment.

    But he is also being a touch disingenuous - and he knows it.

    There has been a significant redistribution in the categories - away from investment spending and towards current spending.

    To date year-on-year the Current Expenditure and Investment (ie the discretionary stuff) are down £8bn whereas net social benefits are up £7.5bn and interest up £5.5bn.

    The table to look for is the 'Central Government Account' on the penultimate page of the 'Public Sector Finances' report at ONS.

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