Pace of public spending cuts 'not set in stone'
The pace and scale of public spending cuts is not set in stone and could be changed if the policy fails to rescue the economy, a Liberal Democrat cabinet minister has said.
The Chancellor will next month unveil the drastic squeeze on Whitehall budgets as he bids to eradicate the UK’s structural deficit by 2015 - a policy the Lib Dems opposed at the general election.
Speaking at a fringe event during the party’s annual conference in Liverpool, energy secretary Chris Huhne defended the decision to back the drastic programme, saying the eurozone crisis forced a change of approach.
But he indicated that no government could be forced to switch tack if the policy was not working.
“I’ve never ever known one red book the same as the next,” he said, referring to the document containing each year’s Budget measures and economic figures.
“Any chancellor has to take account of the circumstances,” he went on, comparing it to the wind changing for a sailor crossing the Mersey from Liverpool to Birkenhead.
“The objective will stay the same but you have to make sure you get there.”
Asked by Labour ex-cabinet minister Lord Adonis if he was saying the plans could be scaled back if growth fails to improve, he said: “You have to assess this as things go along and look at what the threats are.”
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Readers' comments (5)
Anonymous | 21-Sep-2010 4:17 pm
So the quote from Huhne should read:
"Of course we're making this all up as we go along, but if we screw things up too badly we'll change our mind."
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Anonymous | 21-Sep-2010 5:23 pm
I thought the whole point was that the CSR was going to pull numbers out of fresh air and then say that they will leave it to the services to workout how best to deliver them. What this really means we are going to set some targets with absolutely no idea if they are achievable and blame everyone else when it turns out they are not.
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Mark Liddle | 22-Sep-2010 5:08 am
Now there is a name - Lord Adonis.
Fantastic.
Nothing to do with the issue but Hey, worth a mention.
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Anonymous | 22-Sep-2010 11:55 am
Mark
As Sandi Toksvig said on Radio 4 "If ever there was someone whose name wrote cheques his body couldn't cash..."
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Mark Liddle | 22-Sep-2010 11:46 pm
I am in NZ so didn't know what he looked like. Google images just rectified that. I have nothing else to say...
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