Free schools are not, and cannot be, “free”. They certainly won’t be free in a financial sense. The tax payer will be paying for them. All tax payers, not just the few who currently send their kids there, or may wish to do so in the future. That includes all the taxpayers who send their kids to ‘unfree’ schools. That means all us will have a legitimate interest in how our money is spent, and will seek to exercise that interest, through various avenues. Continue reading “There’s No Such Thing as a Free School”
Category: Spending
Pain with a Purpose – a preview of next week’s “Emergency” Budget
The June 22 Budget will herald major spending cuts to tackle the country’s debt crisis. But there is also a wider strategic goal, and it’s called rolling back the ‘Big State’
We are edging, slowly and hesitatingly, towards the sort of debate about the future of Britain that should have happened during the general election, but which all the parties studiously avoided. The ‘big debate’ about long-term spending plans is finally starting properly, kicked off by the ambiguous first report from the much-vaunted Office for Budget Responsibility. As the debate started to shape up, the Observer’s William Keegan asked: ‘They call it “pain with a purpose”. What purpose, exactly?’
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The Two Armed Economist Strikes – 1st Office for Budget Responsibility Report
It was US President Harry Truman who reportedly said that he was fed-up with economists who told him “one the one hand Mr President…”, followed by “but on the other hand….”. Truman said he wanted a one-armed economist. Continue reading “The Two Armed Economist Strikes – 1st Office for Budget Responsibility Report”
Thou Shalt Not Pass On Public Debts To Future Generations – I Say, Why Not?
One of the new Commandments is “Thou shalt not accumulate public debts that have to paid off by future generations”. To which I answer, why not? Like most such axioms, any serious analysis soon shows that the Commandment isn’t quite as absolute, or a useful guide to action, as it first appears. Continue reading “Thou Shalt Not Pass On Public Debts To Future Generations – I Say, Why Not?”
Spending Review Framework: Plus ca change
So, now we know the ‘how’ if not yet the ‘what’ of the cuts in public spending. “The Spending Review Framework” (Cm 7872) published June 8th sets out how the radical new Spending Review will operate, and it’s rather similar to the old one introduced by Labour in 1998. Continue reading “Spending Review Framework: Plus ca change”
Cuts – you’ll have to ‘watch this space’ quite a bit longer…
A lot of media analysts and city commentators have been loosely talking about the forthcoming Budget ‘spelling out the cuts’ that were so obviously absent from the election campaign. It won’t.
David Cameron has just confirmed in an interview on the Andrew Marr show that the Budget will only spell out the spending envelope for the whole of government for the next three years (April 2011 to March 2014). It will not contain any details of Departmental Expenditure Limits (DELs) – that will have to wait until the Spending Review in the Autumn. Continue reading “Cuts – you’ll have to ‘watch this space’ quite a bit longer…”
Myths, half-myths and Spending Reviews
Sorry to be a stickler for details but a widespread myth emerged during the Election that the Labour government had “postponed” a Spending Review and “put it off until after the Election”. Continue reading “Myths, half-myths and Spending Reviews”
Denial about taxes and cuts and half-truths about efficiency – what an election
With the FT and IFS reports this week it is abundantly clear now to everyone what some of us have been saying for ages – this election is being fought with a big void where the truth about the public finances and spending cuts ought to be. But if what they are telling us about efficiency is anything to go by, we might not be much better off if they did start talking about “the cuts”. Continue reading “Denial about taxes and cuts and half-truths about efficiency – what an election”
Half a Million Public Sector Jobs To Go?
The CIPD has estimated that up to half a million public sector jobs could go within the next 5 years, whoever wins the next Election.
Is this realistic and how does it sit in historic trends? Continue reading “Half a Million Public Sector Jobs To Go?”
Lib Dems – a mysterious £860m saving?
The Liberal Democrats are making a great deal of how honest, detailed and clear they are being about the needs for ‘tough choices’ in public spending. And by and large they do seem to be, but there are some areas where spin seems to have gotten the better of them. Continue reading “Lib Dems – a mysterious £860m saving?”
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