Ministers Told To Find Billions More In Savings - Torygraph, 23 April 2012

[RichM]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9219764/Ministers-told-to-find-billions-more-in-savings.html

Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will announce on Monday that he is ordering departments to set aside five per cent of their current budgets in addition to the unprecedented spending cuts already set out.

Treasury officials are hoping that the news will reassure investors that the Coalition is keeping a tight grip on Government spending as the economy enters an uncertain period.

[SF02]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9219764/Ministers-told-to-find-billions-more-in-savings.html

Hmmm I wonder if they have word that last months borrowing figures were higher than expected thus pushing the last financial year's total higher? Remember February's about was around £15 billion, which was double the expected £7.5 billion.

Anyway I look forward to further cuts to trains and roads which people need to get to work, and more police axed. Still, the UK will be sending billions more abroad in foreign aid, as it's the only department along with the NHS that gets an annual rise.

[SF02]

Also just realised that the UK will be sending billions more to the EU annually from this year. There's also the continued billions for Afghanistan, and then the the rapidly increasing bill for housing benefits due to the crazy market. Those aren't affected. It'll be things that working people use and need that will be affected. Working the 9-5 in the UK is increasingly a foolish thing to do for many, and these cuts will increase that I'm sure.

[Vagabond]

Hmm. Don't they normally have to find *some* savings before they can find 'more'?

Wake me up when they've found a way to save the 150 billion GBP they're currently overspending by...

['Bart']

A piffling few billion? I remember when that was a lot of money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HkaC4cQdtg

[Bloo Loo]

lets add in the £10bn announced for loans to the IMF at the end of last week...apparently this isnt borrowed money.

[fluffy666]

Also just realised that the UK will be sending billions more to the EU annually from this year. There's also the continued billions for Afghanistan, and then the the rapidly increasing bill for housing benefits due to the crazy market. Those aren't affected. It'll be things that working people use and need that will be affected. Working the 9-5 in the UK is increasingly a foolish thing to do for many, and these cuts will increase that I'm sure.

Don't forget funding cuts in Corporation tax, and cuts in the top rate of tax.

And, of course, the increased welfare bill from putting more people out of work.

And funding the huge amount of NHS changes.

[Bloo Loo]

Don't forget funding cuts in Corporation tax, and cuts in the top rate of tax.

And, of course, the increased welfare bill from putting more people out of work.

And funding the huge amount of NHS changes.

no problem here, as according to just about everyone in the MSM and everywhere else, lowering taxes will RAISE the take.

[papag]

well maybe they need to do some real cuts I work for a BTL slumlord and his tenants all still have Sky seem to have lots of money and asking them if anything has changed since the new Gov and honestly most say its got better , one even gets a funded taxi to take her kids to school as she says she has a medical problem with her hand.The landlord gets his money paid directly into his bank and yes drives a Porsche .

[fluffy666]

no problem here, as according to just about everyone in the MSM and everywhere else, lowering taxes will RAISE the take.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/50p-tax-rate-not-working%2c-say-people-desperate-to-abolish-50p-tax-rate-201202234928/

[interestrateripoff]

lets add in the £10bn announced for loans to the IMF at the end of last week...apparently this isnt borrowed money.

Perhaps that's why we've got to find even more cuts?

[yellerkat]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9219764/Ministers-told-to-find-billions-more-in-savings.html

Just getting 404s from the Torygraph.

[RichM]

Just getting 404s from the Torygraph.

Peter, you've lost the news!

[fluffy666]

Perhaps that's why we've got to find even more cuts?

Personally, I think we should simply cancel all public services - including tax collectors - and hand over all tax revenue to the IMF to distribute to their favored financial institutions as they see fit.

[crashmonitor]

Got to admire Danny Alexander, not really ducking the issue that the coalition had basically inherited a budget that was stealing money from the unborn. Not that his Liberal supporters will understand, their social justice is jam today and raping and pillaging their grandkid's future.

One assumes that his suicide mission, as far as his job past the next election is concerned, will be rewarded by a 7 figure city job.

Edited April 23, 2012 by crashmonitor

[fluffy666]

Got to admire Danny Alexander, not really ducking the issue that the coalition had basically inherited a budget that was stealing money from the unborn. Not that his Liberal supporters will understand, their social justice is jam today and raping and pillaging their grandkid's future.

So, creating more intergenerational unemployment is not going to affect the grandkid's future?

One assumes that his suicide mission as far as is job past the next election is concerned, will be rewarded by a 7 figure city job.

No VI, then.

[crashmonitor]

No VI, then.

Got to be. Acting the henchman weilding the axe, curtains for his future as a Liberal candidate, but must realise the city will be queueing up for his services.

[Timak]

The only way we can survive is the economy growing.

A shrinking, or at best flat lining economy, will make running a balanced budget and reducing debt more difficult in the long term.

I fail to see how slashing public spending, welfare payments etc is going to get the economy to grow. Taking all the demand out of our economy is a bad thing surely?

It is always strange for me when I see people on here baying for more austerity - do your jobs not rely on people having money to spend?

[crashmonitor]

So, creating more intergenerational unemployment is not going to affect the grandkid's future?

Better than leaving them massively in debt. Brown was very much a student of Peron. Biting the bullet on debt is preferable to bankkruptcy Argentine-style.

[roger196]

The only way we can survive is the economy growing.

A shrinking, or at best flat lining economy, will make running a balanced budget and reducing debt more difficult in the long term.

I fail to see how slashing public spending, welfare payments etc is going to get the economy to grow. Taking all the demand out of our economy is a bad thing surely?

It is always strange for me when I see people on here baying for more austerity - do your jobs not rely on people having money to spend?

You need to cut welfare payments that are likely to be spent overseas eg on foreign holidays or on capital items like BTL which encourages house inflation. A broad definition of welfare helps to identify the solution . I would include excessive salaries in the public sector....cutting all these to £52k pa would have much less impact on domestic demand than cutting the JSA payments to the unemployed.

[fluffy666]

Better than leaving them massively in debt. Brown was very much a student of Peron. Biting the bullet on debt is preferable to bankruptcy Argentine-style.

Not sure why multi-generational unemployment is seen as worse than public debt.. and if we were biting the bullet on debt we wouldn't be cutting taxes for anyone, let alone rich people.

[PopGun]

Not sure why multi-generational unemployment is seen as worse than public debt.. and if we were biting the bullet on debt we wouldn't be cutting taxes for anyone, let alone rich people.

When the NMW is abolished,

Corporation tax is 0%,

Public spending is 0.05% of GDP,

Unemployment is 70%

and everyone is sent to Tescos/Poundland to work for free...

The nutters will still demand it isn't enough and new harsh steps will need to be taken, to attract the wealth creaters so the UK is competitive again.

Edited April 23, 2012 by PopGun

[crashmonitor]

Not sure why multi-generational unemployment is seen as worse than public debt.. and if we were biting the bullet on debt we wouldn't be cutting taxes for anyone, let alone rich people.

We all know the argument for the reduction in the top rate of tax, it is claimed that it doesn't raise anymore revenue whether it is 45% or 50%. Tbh I'm so far off the top rate of tax it really doesn't bother me, just one of the plebs who accepts the situation - seems to bother Guardian journos who earn around 100K who don't seem to see themselves as the ruling elite. Don't understand why getting into more debt will necessarily create more permanent employment, I can see how it might eventually destroy jobs as the debt burden gets worse. Don't think Italy or Spain exactly set themselves up for full employment now by going on a Brownesque splurge as if there was no tomorrow.

Edited April 23, 2012 by crashmonitor

['Bart']

no problem here, as according to just about everyone in the MSM and everywhere else, lowering taxes will RAISE the take.

Sticking with the Britain's Trillion Pound Horror Story documentary theme, that's exactly what happened in Hong Kong.

When Sir John Cowperthwaite, who has died aged 90, became financial secretary of Hong Kong in 1961, the average resident earned about a quarter of someone living in Britain. By the early 1990s, average incomes in the colony were higher.

Cowperthwaite made Hong Kong the most economically free economy in the world and pursued free trade, refusing to make its citizens buy expensive locally-produced goods if they could import cheaper products. Income tax was never more than a flat rate of 15%. The colony's lack of natural resources, apart from a harbour - and the fact that it was a food importer - made its success all the more interesting.

LINK

That 15% rate was for top earners. Most people in Hong Kong pay no income tax at all.

Yet Hong Kong's transport, health and education systems make the UK's look third world.

Lower taxes can increase revenue

Once the public sector becomes so large that huge taxes are required to fund it, the private sector suffers. Business taxes reduce profits for companies, which prevents them from reinvesting their earnings and growing. Meanwhile, high income tax, particularly on the poorest in society, gives less incentive to work. When the government punishes hard work and success you will quickly find that people simply commit less of their time to working and tax revenues drop.

In contrast, a system that allows individuals and businesses to keep a large portion of their earnings will encourage high levels of production. Once taxes are low enough it will also encourage entrepreneurs from overseas to invest in the economy, proving growth and jobs. Taking a small portion of a huge pie can be better than taking a huge portion of a tiny crumb, which is exactly what they discovered in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe when they introduced a low flat tax.

LINK

I think the guy behind Trillion Pound Horror Story Martin Durkin is barking up the wrong tree if he thinks that Britain can emulate Hong Kong though. The modern UK mindset is all wrong.

The government (it seems) must manage the economy, although the record of successive governments in doing this has been pitiful.

We're like one of those characters in a slasher pic set in the woods, who will invariably choose the path that leads to their doom.

[awaytogo]

well maybe they need to do some real cuts I work for a BTL slumlord and his tenants all still have Sky seem to have lots of money and asking them if anything has changed since the new Gov and honestly most say its got better , one even gets a funded taxi to take her kids to school as she says she has a medical problem with her hand.The landlord gets his money paid directly into his bank and yes drives a Porsche .

There will need to be more cuts in benefits and housing benefits,mainly because a lot of these benefits have risen by 5% while a lot of workers are getting no rise at all. Working has to benefit.

Edited April 23, 2012 by awaytogo