George Osborne warns £25bn more cuts needed

grizzly1911

A further £25bn spending cuts will be needed after the next election, Chancellor George Osborne has warned.

He suggested making welfare savings by cutting housing benefit for under-25s and restricting council housing for those earning over £65,000 a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25617844

The report also suggests he said that borrowing had been reduced by £3000 per person:think:

marleyboy

CLAPTON

current deficit round 80 bn
cuts of 25bn
so
tax increases of 55bn
in order to balance the budget

Generali

CLAPTON wrote: »

current deficit round 80 bn
cuts of 25bn
so
tax increases of 55bn
in order to balance the budget

It doesn't work like that.

Unemployment falls so spending on benefits fall.

Loughton_Monkey

As Nick Robinson says, this is still not enough.

I find the £65K threshold ridiculous. People earning £40K and above, and paying full commercial rent must be seething at how much of their tax is subsidising better-off people. So cut it to £40K.

And while we're at it, this can also be a lower ceiling for Child Benefit. Or phase out child benefit for everyone as it simply doesn't make sense to pay people to have children.

No housing benefit for under-25's will help. Under 30 would be better.

I know the heating allowance/Bus pass thing doesn't cost much, but I do wish he would abolish them [or at the very least means test them] simply for the sake of common sense.

antrobus

CLAPTON wrote: »

current deficit round 80 bn
cuts of 25bn
so
tax increases of 55bn
in order to balance the budget

Actually, I think the current deficit is still around the £100 bn mark. Granted, that's a lot better than the £150 bn Gideon was lumbered with back in 2010, but it shows you that there is still some way to go before we're entirely out of the woods.

CLAPTON

Generali wrote: »

It doesn't work like that.

Unemployment falls so spending on benefits fall.

yes of course it does and of course an increase in economic activity increase VAT receipts, fiscal drag taxes etc

but the balance of reduction in benefit spending plus tax increase needs to equal the deficit if we are to eliminate it

it gives a sense of scale of 25bn in benefit reduction in what is essentially a vacuous press release

spacey2012

I would have thought a executive and senior pay review at councils and government departments would be a good start.
Do they really need figureheads to run services, some who are on 250k + a Year.
They also have unbelievable levels os pay in a lot of positions.
A manager of admin an office of 40 people in the real world does not get £84k a year plus essential car users allowance.
Send the Auditors in George and anyone job that can be done for real pay, cut the wage and let them give it up to someone who will work for realistic pay if they object.

Other things like paid union Reps, the councils pay a board of union reps around 48k a year each from council money to be union reps ? Why.

By cutting waste first .. as promised, get rid of Pickles, the hot air merchant has delivered nothing in two years but hot air.
Get someone in that will make these cuts to executive pay structures in councils.

michaels

CLAPTON wrote: »

current deficit round 80 bn
cuts of 25bn
so
tax increases of 55bn
in order to balance the budget

Is that 80bn the current estimate of the cyclically adjusted deficit as it is the cyclical figure that cuts need to be measured against?

Don't forget the 25bn is of 'additional cuts' over and above what is already pencilled in for 2014/15 and 16/17.

Given the rumblings from the debt management office it is not suprising that the chancellor is talking tough on the deficit.

Don't forget that it is not always possible sell more debt just by increasing the coupon, as Greeece has illustrated their comes a point where the debt dynmics mean that paying a higher interest rate just increases the rate at which debt becomes unsustainable. Should the UK come under presure you can be sure our European 'partners' would take full advantage trying to engineer emergency admission to the Euro on terms extremely favourable to them as the price of any bailout. Perhaps the sort of deal Ed and Ed would do as being a price worth paying to gain power?

michaels

spacey2012 wrote: »

I would have thought a executive and senior pay review at councils and government departments would be a good start.
Do they really need figureheads to run services, some who are on 250k + a Year.
They also have unbelievable levels os pay in a lot of positions.
A manager of admin an office of 40 people in the real world does not get £84k a year plus essential car users allowance.
Send the Auditors in George and anyone job that can be done for real pay, cut the wage and let them give it up to someone who will work for realistic pay if they object.

Other things like paid union Reps, the councils pay a board of union reps around 48k a year each from council money to be union reps ? Why.

By cutting waste first .. as promised, get rid of Pickles, the hot air merchant has delivered nothing in two years but hot air.
Get someone in that will make these cuts to executive pay structures in councils.

Local democracy innit, budgets to LAs have been cut sharply, if our elected representatives think that these expenditures are more relevant that providing social care or fixing the roads then that is what we have voted for.

antrobus

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

A..... Or phase out child benefit for everyone as it simply doesn't make sense to pay people to have children......

Quite the contrary. We need children so that they can grow up to become tax-paying adults and fund the pensions and health care of an ageing population.