Osborne prepares to unveil cuts

Well the waiting is over for the UK. Today the Chancellor (George Osborne) reveals the cuts in public spending. This is rumoured to be an average of 25% across the board...
Some ideas what will be done from the BBC here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11579979
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11580332

BobHelm wrote:Well the waiting is over for the UK. Today the Chancellor (George Osborne) reveals the cuts in public spending. This is rumoured to be an average of 25% across the board.

this is the begining , of the end of the social security state ,
mis - management of the UK , economy by previous goverments .

IMO , foreign aid / humanitarian aid should be abolished immediately .
a gravy train for many people , sure.
as a bankrupt country , charity begins at home .
what goverment pension , means tests are on the horizon .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11579979

Well it is all out...ended up being about 18% cut rather than the 25% rumour had it. Plus that is slightly less than the 20% the Labour Party said they would implement, but a year later.
Sadly hangsaboot 2 sectors had been 'ring fenced' for no changes from day 1. They were:
The National Health Service
Foreign Aid.

Not cutting the NHS is obviously a vote keeper for any party. I was unfortunate enough (because it meant I had health problems) to view the HNS at close quarters for a prolonged period. The actual medical care I was given was excellent & speedy - absolutely zero complaints there. The bureaucracy supporting the medical care is horrific though. Anyone with any commercial business experience & given a free hand could save billions without cutting a penny from care...but that will not happen.
The Foreign Aid question is far more difficult. The UK has commitments that it has made (via the UN) about Aid & I fully understand that it needs to fulfill them. However any new commitments should be viewed in a completely new light.

The already agreed rise in the age for claiming Old Age Pension has been brought forward from 2010 to 2018.
Half a million government workers will be made redundant by the cuts. It is difficult to see that this 'slack' will be taken up by private business. Government employees also happen to be on the more generous side of a "company" pension. The cynical might just view these two facts as privately employed individuals paying for the more generous public pensions. True or not it is a situation that few are talking about, but, eventually will be recognised.

I think most people in the UK have accepted that the cuts were necessary. Possibly because (with the Liberal Party vote needed) it will also be accompanied with some sort of banking levy - most UK people also know where the fault of the current economic crisis lie & are not happy that people can pull multi-million employment packages while playing the Lotto with their cash. It will undoubtedly be followed with ALL social security payments being means tested. Something which, personally, I am not too happy about. I feel that if a person pays into the fund (without choice)then anyone but a Government would be convicted of fraud if they did not pay out!!

Osborne referred to Britain as a welfare state.
I laughed a little.

Whats laughable about referring to britain as a welfare state.?

Texpat wrote:Osborne referred to Britain as a welfare state.
I laughed a little.

Yes, come on Tex give a link for once that actually agrees with what you have written!!!