So, it is now official, we are going to have Spending Review 2013.

First, let’s clear up some confusions – as far as we can – about where SR2013 “fits”.

Continue reading “SR 2013: Why now and what’s it for?” →

The Chancellor delivered this year’s Budget with a lot of shouting – but the sound and fury disguises the essentially dolittle nature of his proposals. The main, modest, changes he proposes mostly do not kick in for 2, 3 or 4 years, when most agree what we need is action now to kick-start the economy.

Like the Chancellor’s rather shouty delivery, growth in the economy continues to be choked off and is forecast to continue to be stuttering.

Much of this is as result of the Chancellor’s own actions – by cutting public spending too quickly but also, and even more importantly, by convincing businesses and households that in 2010 we were on the brink of financial collapse, fatally undermining business and consumer confidence.

Mr Osborne continues to blame anyone and anything for the British economies poor performance, except himself and his policies. It is true that world, and especially European, economic performance has been poor – but this is also because of austerity policies Mr Osborne has supported. Other parts of the world not pursing reckless austerity are doing better.

The only real surprise in the Budget is the size of the massive Whitehall underspend of £11bn – including under-spending on investments – are a sign not of good but of very poor control over spending. This money was intended to provide public services people rely on – to fail to deliver them will be a disaster for many.

I have just created two new news feeds using the rather useful *Scoop.It*.

One is a newsfeed counterpart to Whitehall Watch with all the news stories I come across that are worth reading if you are into *Whitehall Watching* and is called – surprisingly – Whitehall Watch: http://www.scoop.it/t/whitehall-watch

The other is more narrowly around the topic of *The Politics of Public Spending*, a subject on which I teach, research and advise. You can find that one here: http://www.scoop.it/t/the-politics-of-public-spending

In both cases this is stuff that I find interesting/useful. Posting stories doesn’t imply any endorsement. If you find them useful, please share.

 

The Fabian Commission on Future Spending Choices asked me for some ideas about the public spending process in the UK and here are my suggestions for reform: Continue reading “Ten ideas for Democratising and Modernising Public Spending in the UK” →