By Lucy Phillips
25 January 2010
No areas of public spending should escape budget cuts if the country’s finances are to be put back on track, according to the Liberal Democrats.
In a speech to the Demos think-tank in London this morning, LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable attacked Labour and Tory proposals to ‘ring-fence’ future spending on areas such as education and the NHS. Accusing both parties of ‘condemning other government departments to deeply damaging cuts’, he said the health service – which has the biggest budget of all – should not be exempt. ‘Nobody who has ever used it could fail to observe that the money could be used more efficiently,’ he added.
Cable, who was setting out the LibDem’s economic manifesto, also revealed that ‘arbitrary cuts’ by the government were already having an adverse effect on areas such as scientific research, affordable housing and further education. He warned that Tory proposals to protect spending in some areas would have ‘horrendous implications’ for policing and public transport.
Cable pledged £10bn of savings on government budgets not yet identified by the other parties. These include scrapping tax credits for high earners and future Child Trust Fund contributions, cancelling the national identity card project and cutting most of the funding for regional development agencies.
He said ‘much more’ would need to be done to meet Labour’s own deficit reduction targets, criticising the government’s ‘relaxed’ approach to reducing the public deficit. He also warned against the Tories’ ‘dogmatic’ approach, suggesting they would embark on a cuts programme regardless of the state of the economy at the time.
Cable advocated the approach taken in the early 1990s by the Canadian Liberal party. Once elected, ministers identified cuts and then consulted with the public for more ideas. ‘It seems to me very sensible to take the people with you. Most of the people in the public sector are not just bloody minded, they understand something needs to happen and consulting people is better than ramming it down their throats,’ he said.
Cable also said the only way to make sustainable changes in public sector spending would be to improve the quality of people recruited by the government to make procurement decisions. He called for a ‘cadre’ of people to be trained as contract managers, as happens in the private sector.
25 January 2010
No areas of public spending should escape budget cuts if the country’s finances are to be put back on track, according to the Liberal Democrats.
In a speech to the Demos think-tank in London this morning, LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable attacked Labour and Tory proposals to ‘ring-fence’ future spending on areas such as education and the NHS. Accusing both parties of ‘condemning other government departments to deeply damaging cuts’, he said the health service – which has the biggest budget of all – should not be exempt. ‘Nobody who has ever used it could fail to observe that the money could be used more efficiently,’ he added.
Cable, who was setting out the LibDem’s economic manifesto, also revealed that ‘arbitrary cuts’ by the government were already having an adverse effect on areas such as scientific research, affordable housing and further education. He warned that Tory proposals to protect spending in some areas would have ‘horrendous implications’ for policing and public transport.
Cable pledged £10bn of savings on government budgets not yet identified by the other parties. These include scrapping tax credits for high earners and future Child Trust Fund contributions, cancelling the national identity card project and cutting most of the funding for regional development agencies.
He said ‘much more’ would need to be done to meet Labour’s own deficit reduction targets, criticising the government’s ‘relaxed’ approach to reducing the public deficit. He also warned against the Tories’ ‘dogmatic’ approach, suggesting they would embark on a cuts programme regardless of the state of the economy at the time.
Cable advocated the approach taken in the early 1990s by the Canadian Liberal party. Once elected, ministers identified cuts and then consulted with the public for more ideas. ‘It seems to me very sensible to take the people with you. Most of the people in the public sector are not just bloody minded, they understand something needs to happen and consulting people is better than ramming it down their throats,’ he said.
Cable also said the only way to make sustainable changes in public sector spending would be to improve the quality of people recruited by the government to make procurement decisions. He called for a ‘cadre’ of people to be trained as contract managers, as happens in the private sector.
