Gov Spending Review 20.10.2010

[administrator]

Can't see a thread about this yet so thought would do the honours...

Less that 3 hours to go until Gideon kicks off his "comprehensive" spending review. Will it result in much wailing and gnashing of teeth, or will be a bit of whimper after such a build up?

I reckon it will be nothing like as harsh as I would like it to with a lot of the cuts not being phased in for a few years, as the early leaks / announcements have suggested. I think that the nagging of the yellows will have curtailed what the tories would have liked to have done, and the middle ground will not be as tough as really required.

Making the BBC pay for the free licence fees sounded like a good idea - not sure why that did not get through. Any one heard anything on the contractor grape vine about what may be coming?

Forgot to add - is this another day in which other news can be buried? Or are the tories not as sneaky as their predecessors?

[AtW]

what may be coming?

R&D Relief will most certainly be removed, I am very positive about it because we are about to apply for it...

[MarillionFan]

490,000 jobs to go.

It's going to be 'Everyone out boys!'

[administrator]

490,000 jobs to go.

It's going to be 'Everyone out boys!'

How many people actually work in the public sector though? Isn't it something like 6 million?

If they do go the route of strikes then I think the rest of the public will turn, we are all facing hard times so why should they put the rest of us under pressure and disrupt our lives just because they are feeling a bit of (some would say well overdue) pain?

[sasguru]

How many people actually work in the public sector though? Isn't it something like 6 million?

If they do go the route of strikes then I think the rest of the public will turn, we are all facing hard times so why should they put the rest of us under pressure and disrupt our lives just because they are feeling a bit of (some would say well overdue) pain?

A couple of points:

1. The "them and us" approach to the public sector is not really valid. PwC estimates that there will be a million total jobs lost if 500,000 are culled from the public sector and that £46 billion will be lost from the private sector.

2. It is not absolutely clear that drastic cuts are the best option at this stage of the economic cycle and given the fragile world economy.

One thing that is certain, if a million people lose their jobs then property price falls will accelerate in speed and magnitude - and that's not a bad thing.

[HairyArsedBloke]

How many people actually work in the public sector though? Isn't it something like 6 million?

Straight from the horses sminki

This is direct headcount; it does not include all those that work for companies that are providing service to government.

[EternalOptimist]

I think when Gibbon come to write his decline and fall of Britain, the public sector will get its very own chapter

[administrator]

A couple of points:

1. The "them and us" approach to the public sector is not really valid. PwC estimates that there will be a million total jobs lost if 500,000 are culled from the public sector and that £46 billion will be lost from the private sector.

2. It is not absolutely clear that drastic cuts are the best option at this stage of the economic cycle and given the fragile world economy.

One thing that is certain, if a million people lose their jobs then property price falls will accelerate in speed and magnitude - and that's not a bad thing.

I think the them and us approach will be seen if the public sector do use the power of the unions to try and punish the government by staging walk outs. This will hurt the the whole country. I think a lot of people recognise that labour bloated the public sector and recognise that these cuts need to be made.

I also agree that the ramifications of public sector cuts will mean that jobs will also go in the private sector that supply services to the public sector. If half a million jobs go in the public sector then would not be surprised to hear that the same goes from private. Have a couple of friends who work for businesses supplying the Gov and they are very worried for their jobs.

No it is not clear that drastic cuts are the best option - but surely carrying on with a bloated and inefficient public sector is equally unsustainable and not clearly the best thing to do. Think the Gov have a tough balance to strike and only time will tell if they make the right choices today.

Agree re house prices. Something else to blame Labour for...

Straight from the horses sminki

This is direct headcount; it does not include all those that work for companies that are providing service to government.

Cheers, thought it was something like that. Had a look on the ONS but could not find the document.

[MarillionFan]

It will be like France.

The unions will whip this one into a winter of discontent to which we haven't seen the likes IMO.

[d000hg]

I reckon it will be nothing like as harsh as I would like it to with a lot of the cuts not being phased in for a few years, as the early leaks / announcements have suggested

I didn't quite get the point of those... how is it a quick and effective change if things don't come in until 2013? Where is the money coming from the intervening time? If you're in serious personal debt your financial advisor wouldn't say "let's draw a up a strict budget, for the next couple of months carry on going down the pub and having takeaway 4 times a week though"