Fleet Street’s finest were in shock this week when it turned out that none of the three main political parties had been completely open and frank about the true extent of the cuts that are awaiting us.
Newspaper headlines highlighted the ‘biggest squeeze for 30 years’ and a ‘conspiracy of silence’ over the parties’ true plans. ‘Why hadn’t we been told?’ the commentators complained.
They were reacting to an analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which showed that Labour has announced only 13% of its planned cuts, the Conservatives 18% and the Liberal Democrats 26% (see news story, page 6). Consequently, says the IFS, voters have been denied an informed choice.
This is indeed true – and the level of obfuscation is clearly worrying. But the sad state of the public finances shouldn’t really have come as too much of a surprise.
Budgets and Pre-Budget Reports have shown the level of cuts needed, if not where they will actually fall. Public Finance has provided its readers with chapter and verse on the worsening prospects for public services week after week.
Politicians have not escaped scrutiny. They have been under pressure for many months to explain how axing billions of pounds of expenditure won’t negatively affect the quality of services.
But the government’s decision to postpone a Spending Review – allegedly on the grounds of financial uncertainty – meant that detail would inevitably be lacking.
Having ignored the elephant in the room for all this time, it is unlikely that the parties will undergo a last-minute conversion and start to reveal all ahead of May 6.
Previous flirtations with honesty – such as the Tories short-lived description of an ‘age of austerity’ – have not gone down well with voters. Gordon Brown’s candid appraisal of his encounter with a member of the public on the campaign trail also shows the disastrous pitfalls of plain-speaking.
So we shouldn’t expect too much light to be shined over the next week. Honesty from politicians is unlikely at the best of times, but is unheard of in the middle of a financial crisis that’s taking place just ahead of a close election.
What we can hope is that whoever comes to power, be it a single party or a coalition, makes clear their fiscal intentions quickly and in some detail.
It might be via an emergency Budget or a Spending Review, but the next government must give a firm indication of the best way out of the financial jungle.
