Tories plan binding cross departmental cuts meeting – but we have to move on from our current line
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By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982
The Tories are already planning meetings to bind governmental departments to wholesale public service cuts, a year before an election is due. George Osborne, were he to make it to Number 11, would hold a meeting within days of taking power to bind any and all new Conservative government ministers to deep reductions in investment in schools, hospital and policing, according to shadow cabinet sources cited in the Guardian.
The paper also suggests that new Tory officials would be asked to make the cuts as early as possible, before they can grow too attached to their departmenal interests. That suggests a blind, uninformed set of arbitrary cuts, the sort of scything in the dark at projects that affect people’s lives we should fear from a Cameron government.
Indeed, the Guardian also says that under the new Tory plans, the Treasury will be guided by the markets, not public need.
Of course, spending reductions are going to be required over the next few years. Yesterday Meryvn King urged the government to sharply reduce public borrowing. So I’m still concerned that the Party line “Labour investment over Tory cuts” is a dead end. It’s a ten year old argument not valid for this recession.
We should be fighting the next election on who is best placed to make those cuts to ensure the smoothest possible growth out of the recession; arguing a case for where smaller investment cuts can be mitigated best and why continued investment in the most critical frontline services – such as social and affordable housing – is important.
Instead of “Tory cuts” and “Mr 10%”, Labour needs to say “yes, unfortunately we’re going to have to reduce funding for some services; but we have a record of investing in the most important frontline services, and your school, your Sure Start centre, your hospital and your local comunity centre are all completely safe.”
UPDATE: Here’s the latest HQ video on those cuts:
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