Five Departments Reach Agreement On Spending Cuts

[Kyoto]

Shock horror. Could we actually see some REAL cuts. Is the party really coming to an end?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11400220

The Treasury, Cabinet Office, Foreign Office plus the environment and communities departments have reached agreement on cutting their spending.

As a result ministers Eric Pickles and Caroline Spelman have joined the "star chamber", which rules on departments which cannot agree cuts.

Most government departments have been told to agree 25% cuts by next month.

[Mega]

Oct 20th........................Bloodbath day?

Mike

[neil324]

Rough guide how much will 25% cuts save? What departments, defence is'nt much really is it.

[zim]

October 20th 2010 the catalyst which initiates the crash as August 1st 1988 ?

[jaynewcastle]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

Edited September 23, 2010 by jaynewcastle

[Ulfar]

Is IDS part of the Star chamber if not coalition won't last long.

[Errol]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

It has to happen.

You're not one of those strange people who think that Gordon and Alistair did a good job are you?

[Executive Sadman]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

it is inevitable mr. anderson

[Meat Puppet]

it is inevitable mr. anderson

But Osborne said all the sacked government employees will get jobs in the green energy industry.

[jaynewcastle]

It has to happen.

You're not one of those strange people who think that Gordon and Alistair did a good job are you?

Definitely not

[Pent Up]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

If they don't do it will be there even sooner when no one wants to lend the UK money, it's credit rating is cut, the pound plummets, inflation surges,bond yields and interest rates surge. Then the cuts are forced and uncontrolled.

[The Masked Tulip]

This is all part of the softening up PR campaign between now and October 20th.

[fellow]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

The recession never ended. If the cuts were made in 2007, we would be in a much better position now.

[Dames]

But Osborne said all the sacked government employees will get jobs in the green energy industry.

Yep , millions of unemployed waving we hate Nu-Labour placards in front of wind turbines to create free power , thus crreating energy and job security at the same time.

D

[tim123]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

As would the loss of our triple A rating if they don't happen

Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

tim

[okaycuckoo]

The recession never ended. If the cuts were made in 2007, we would be in a much better position now.

I'm inclined to agree, but reality prevents me.

Generally people are having an easier time repaying their debts, and those who were tossed into unemployment have been creeping back but at lower levels of pay. That's my impression, independent of media spin. So the recession is over. For now. Not great, but it is happening. I hope it continues.

Would we have been better off with earlier cuts? I guess that all depended on the timing of the banking collapse: the earlier the collapse, the earlier the cuts. What I mean is that there had to be a collapse before the cuts could be contemplated.

[tinker]

The recession never ended. If the cuts were made in 2007, we would be in a much better position now.

The end of the recession was certainly 'fiddled' to help with the election, though if you consider that part of GDP is government spending and that spending was brought forward or made with money they didn't have, it is questionable as to whether we did actually emerge from the recession. Was the emperor naked?

It's a bit like the MEWing phenomenon and the 'Brown Boom'.

Edited September 23, 2010 by tinker

[General Congreve]

Deleted.

Edited September 23, 2010 by General Congreve

[General Congreve]

If they don't do it will be there even sooner when no one wants to lend the UK money, it's credit rating is cut, the pound plummets, inflation surges,bond yields and interest rates surge. Then the cuts are forced and uncontrolled.

Damned if we do, damned if we don't. The cuts will crash the economy, weakening the pound anyway. It's the better of the two routes, but we're in such a big mess it'll still be carnage. There's no easy way out.

Got gold?

Edited September 23, 2010 by General Congreve

[pyracantha]

This could quite easily plunge the country back into a much deeper recession than 2007-08

Yeah, let's borrow more money and spend our way out of the recession...

[General Congreve]

Yeah, let's borrow more money and spend our way out of the recession...

I can only dream they'd do that, the show should still be a good one though.

[tim123]

Does the 25% cut include pensions. If the staff numbers are cut by 25% I would guess that the cut in spending (including pensions) would be between 5 and 10 % if that when you take into account redundancy and pensions.

For example if someone goes 5 years early and they get redundancy, say 2 years salary (tax free) and their 5 years pension contributions made what would be the real savings? Answer is not much saved, if anything.

It doesn't really work like that.

Yiou will have to pay most of this pension anyway so it isn't an additional cost. By sacking someone now, assuming that you don't replace him, you will save his salary forever.

[tim123]

Damned if we do, damned if we don't. The cuts will crash the economy, weakening the pound anyway. It's the better of the two routes, but we're in such a big mess it'll still be carnage. There's no easy way out.

The problem is that the electorate will beleive the NL retoric that the other route would have worked.

I think that Call me Dave is making a political mistake by not following the NL route. He's giving them an easy win in 2015 unless the economy picks up big time (which I don't think it will)

[Ulfar]

The Tories should never joined a coalition and taken power, they should have left Gordon Brown to the consequences of the mess.

Once everyone had seen the outcome then Tories should taken have power and no one would have objected massive changes.

[realignoramus]

It is my opinion that the spending cuts will be disaster for many of us (excluding those of "independent means" of course.)

The private sector will be unable to replace the losses in the public sector, and will in fact be seriously damaged. The effect on house prices will be at least a 30% reduction.

So my sealed envelope to be opened in mid 2012 states 5 million unemployed, 100k average house prices, and 25% VAT.

The first is a bad thing, the second is eventually a good thing.