Thursday 22 April 2010

Lib Dem cuts

Ever wonder what a Lib Dem Government would look like? Well, where Nick Clegg promised 'savage cuts' Vince Cable has laid it all out for us. Here's the Lib Dem plan for cuts:

  • £2.4 billion a year cut from public sector pay
  • 25% cut in salary for highly paid civil servants
  • Ending national pay bargaining (in Lib Dem speak, decentralised bargaining and independent pay reviews)
  • £1.35 billion a year reduction in family tax credits
  • £5 billion a year cut in child benefit
  • Higher retirement ages brought in quickly
  • £500 million a year cut from the Child Trust Fund
  • £28 billion a year cut from public sector pensions
  • Dismantling Contactpoint (English system that helps professionals care for children) - £40 million a year
  • Scrapping ID cards (but not biometric passports) to save an unidentified amount of money somewhere between £5 billion and £20 billion (big capital costs)
  • £50 million a year cut from England's NHS IT scheme (Barnett consequentials will apply, of course)
  • Save £6 billion by scrapping a communications database that has only been discussed and not costed
  • £500 million by using freeware
  • £2.3 billion cut by scrapping England's Regional Development Agencies
  • £200 million by scrapping the Export Credit Guarantee Department
  • £500 million cut to England's skills and training budgets
  • Unspecified amount to be cut from agriculture support £1 billion cut by scrapping England's Audit Commission and other watchdogs
  • £2 billion cut by scrapping the Government's regional offices in England (they deliver things like the Supporting People Programme for vulnerable people, tackling social deprivation and encouraging local enterprise)
  • £200 million by scrapping English Strategic Health Authorities
  • £600 million cut from England's education budget
  • £5 billion cut from maintenance and upgrade on military aircraft
  • £22 billion cut from military aircraft purchase (didn't the Lib Dems criticise Brown for not providing enough aircraft?)
  • £7 billion cut from military vehicle purchase
  • £70 billion saved by not buying the Trident replacement - offset by the Lib Dems' intention to buy other nukes.
  • £1 to £2 billion cut from military procurement by privatisation
  • £2 billion cut from England's NHS budget

There's an awful lot of Barnett consequentials in there...

Then they want to raise money:

  • Privatise Royal Mail
  • Privatise Royal Mint
  • Seek other Government enterprises to sell
  • Sell the Highways Agency (that'll be England's roads then) and allow them to be tolled
  • Sell the shares in the banks early (rather than wait for a good price)
  • Sell off any public properties they can find

Can I just ask - what will they do next time there's a problem?

Mind how you go!

5 comments:

Jim said...

Be fair Calum, it's not all savage cuts. They should raise a fair bit by introducing VAT on new build housing.

The fact that this would do even more damage to the construction industry won't matter a bit to them.......

subrosa said...

I don't have the sharpest memory Calum, but very recently some labour minister mentioned that cancelling ID cards wouldn't save much because the majority of the money had already been spent in the setting up. Think it was Haine in the Welsh questions on Sunday but not positive.

masterymistery said...

the magic pudding syndrome strikes again!

masterymistery at cosmic rapture

Anonymous said...

Forgive a political numpty, but I thought Barnett consequentials were just a convention with no basis in law. Can we not do something about them?

the marquis said...

I think in this election it is the SNP alone who can protect what is left of the Scottish working class from Thacherite cuts-it is almost always the poor who suffer the most from cuts.