Monday, Nov 16, 2009
Like we will get an say on the matter!!
Bbc: UK public 'favours spending cuts'
The survey found 59% of the 1,005 people polled believed there should be benefit or tax credit cuts - rather than tax hikes - to lower the deficit.
Almost half of those surveyed (48%) also thought there should be a one-year pay freeze for the public sector.
The UK, which now has overall debt of £825bn, is set to borrow a record £175bn over the next two years.
Posted by mark @ 07:34 PM (748 views) Add Comment
10 Comments
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1. cyril said...
Let me guess - taxpayers would prefer benefits to be cut and people on benefits want taxes to rise. Good survey.
2. mr g said...
When push comes to shove and the next government have to impose cuts, if it's a ZanuLiebor government doing the cutting then everything will be OK, the unions will support them and public opinion will understand that it's in the country's best interests.
However, if it's the Tories, the brown stuff will hit the fan accompanied by a barrage of hate propaganda. There'll be a re-run of the poll tax protests, strikes and riots and Big Bad Dave and his team of toffs will be accused of doing unmentionable things to the NHS.
The country will become ungovernable and Harman or Balls (Ed) will ride to the rescue promising ever increasing house prices and the sheeple will be happy again until the next crisis.
What a country!
3. matt_the_hat said...
Obviously doesn't mean personal finances
4. Stu531 said...
I really think there's a strong element of 'be careful what you wish for'.
Whilst I totally agree with the reduction in the benefit economy (and I despair when I see gangs of 20-somethings walking around town in the middle of the day with cans of Red Stripe), there's a real danger that, if you cut spending on public sector organisations, you run the risk of further destabilising the economy. And whilst we all want a reduction in house prices overall, increases in unemployment isn't a desirable outcome.
Don't forget that money spent in the public sector *generally* gets recycled around the UK. Although I know lots of folk on here would like to see a reduction in the size of the public sector, don't forget that many private sector contracts rely on money which has been indirectly fed to them by the government.
I think Mr G may well be right in that there may be large backlash.
As ever, it'll be The Sun that runs public opinion, not common sense.
5. Mr Plumbase said...
We seem to have become a nation of ragged trousered philantropists.
6. charlie brooker said...
Be it spending cuts or tax rises the turkeys already voted for Christmas when they demanded higher house prices.
Gravy anyone?
7. alan said...
There are two other elements to UK debt.
1) Commercial debt. those smoke and mirrors buyouts with lots of mezzanine debt are about to fall over....
2) Personal debt (thanks Matt). We owe a fortune on all those houses we bought in the hope that they would be worth double in a few years. Plus all the loans and credit card balances we racked up.
Sooner or later outsiders will want a higher interest rate for lending money to the UK. A risk element for default needs to be added.
Any spending cuts will see highly paid government contractors out of work very quickly as capital schemes are put on hold.
8. letthemfall said...
as cyril implies
100% of those surveyed want someone else to pay - so long as it's not them
9. need-a-crash said...
@ mr g
Certainly some truth in what you say. Even the poll tax wasn't as hated as everyone thinks, it's just the kind of people who are prone to riot didn't like it!
10. kruador said...
I bet they don't want their parents'/grandparents' pensions to be cut, but that's the biggest benefit expenditure.
You can find the expenditures report from the Department for Work and Pensions at http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp - click Expenditure by Local Authority, go to Table LA2 in that spreadsheet, then look at the numbers under Great Britain (note that Northern Ireland is excluded). State Pensions come to £57 billion, about 8.5% of all government expenditure and 48% of DWP benefits expenditure. Pension Credit, which guarantees a certain level of income to pensioners, is another 6.5% of DWP benefits. Attendance Allowance, which goes to disabled pensioners, is a further 3.7%. All in that's 58% of benefits going to people not of working age.
Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit aren't listed in this spreadsheet but apparently 27% of all households in the UK receive Child Benefit, 17% receive Child Tax Credit (there's probably an overlap here). Data source: Family Resources Survey 2007/8, table 3.9.
The next biggie is Housing Benefit, accounting for £15bn or 13.1% of the DWP benefit payments. Council Tax Benefit is a further 3.3%. How much is going to people of working age who don't try to get work? I don't know, but I actually don't think it's that significant.
Certainly not enough to fill the hole in the public finances. We're not talking about small margins here: the Budget in April showed projected expenditure of £671bn and receipts of £496bn, a net deficit of £175bn, which would require cutting the entire welfare budget.