By Tash Shifrin
24 September 2009
Government ministers have hit back at the Conservatives over the state of the public finances ahead of the Labour Party conference, where the issue of future spending cuts is likely to take centre stage.
The conference will open in Brighton on September 27. Trade unions – including those representing civil servants, teachers and lecturers – plan to protest against the threat of cuts in public sector jobs and services.
Figures published on September 18 by the Office for National Statistics have added to the pressure on the government over the public finances. The figures showed net borrowing for August at £16.1bn, a record for the month.
Total borrowing for the first five months of the financial year was £65.3bn – more than two and a half times the £26.1bn for the same period last year. It is also ahead of Treasury forecasts that predict borrowing for the whole financial year will be double that for 2008/09.
But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said it was his party – rather than the Conservatives – that had made a specific commitment to tackle the rising debt.
Delivering the Smith Institute’s Annual Finance Lecture on September 22, Byrne said that prudent public finances, a sound banking system and a stable housing market would ‘become the trinity of virtue’ for the next ten years. This was due to the changed economy, where neither consumption nor government spending would ‘pack the same punch’.
‘That is why we are determined to halve the deficit over four years and reduce public debt in the medium term,’ he said.
‘The Conservatives refuse to say a word about how quickly they would halve the deficit. Will they match our determination to see the work done in four years?’
The Tories’ opposition to the 50p higher tax rate and duty rises on fuel and alcohol set out in the Finance Bill would contribute to the Treasury’s falling revenues, he suggested. But Byrne refused to specify areas for cuts.
At the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth on September 21, the party’s Treasury spokesman Vince Cable argued: ‘If public spending is cut in the usual way – slash and burn – there will be great damage to local and national services.’ He urged a freeze in the total pay bill, as ‘better than cuts in services’.
In Nick Clegg’s address on September 23, the party leader defended the Liberals’ decision to propose large spending cuts.
He added that the party was committed to ‘not just austerity, but progressive austerity: reducing the deficit, yes, but also building a fair society’.
24 September 2009
Government ministers have hit back at the Conservatives over the state of the public finances ahead of the Labour Party conference, where the issue of future spending cuts is likely to take centre stage.
The conference will open in Brighton on September 27. Trade unions – including those representing civil servants, teachers and lecturers – plan to protest against the threat of cuts in public sector jobs and services.
Figures published on September 18 by the Office for National Statistics have added to the pressure on the government over the public finances. The figures showed net borrowing for August at £16.1bn, a record for the month.
Total borrowing for the first five months of the financial year was £65.3bn – more than two and a half times the £26.1bn for the same period last year. It is also ahead of Treasury forecasts that predict borrowing for the whole financial year will be double that for 2008/09.
But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said it was his party – rather than the Conservatives – that had made a specific commitment to tackle the rising debt.
Delivering the Smith Institute’s Annual Finance Lecture on September 22, Byrne said that prudent public finances, a sound banking system and a stable housing market would ‘become the trinity of virtue’ for the next ten years. This was due to the changed economy, where neither consumption nor government spending would ‘pack the same punch’.
‘That is why we are determined to halve the deficit over four years and reduce public debt in the medium term,’ he said.
‘The Conservatives refuse to say a word about how quickly they would halve the deficit. Will they match our determination to see the work done in four years?’
The Tories’ opposition to the 50p higher tax rate and duty rises on fuel and alcohol set out in the Finance Bill would contribute to the Treasury’s falling revenues, he suggested. But Byrne refused to specify areas for cuts.
At the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth on September 21, the party’s Treasury spokesman Vince Cable argued: ‘If public spending is cut in the usual way – slash and burn – there will be great damage to local and national services.’ He urged a freeze in the total pay bill, as ‘better than cuts in services’.
In Nick Clegg’s address on September 23, the party leader defended the Liberals’ decision to propose large spending cuts.
He added that the party was committed to ‘not just austerity, but progressive austerity: reducing the deficit, yes, but also building a fair society’.
