The notion that the cuts proposed by the tory-led coalition government are essential has been repeated so often that, according to one poll, 60% of the general public believe it. Yet looking at Wednesday’s spending review, there appears to be a clear ideology behind the plans which goes beyond mere necessity.
The overriding principal of the proposals outlined is the worryingly familiar passing on of central government control - ‘rolling back the frontiers of the state’, if you will. The welfare and pensions budget is due a brutal slashing of at least £18bn. Universal child benefit will no longer exist. The much-publicised assault on ‘scroungers’ will undoubtedly affect genuine benefit claimants, and it would be interesting to know exactly how the long-term unemployed are to be made to find work when none exists. The age at which state pensions will be awarded is set to rise, affecting the future plans of thousands. It is perhaps too cynical to point out that the areas which have been protected – winter fuel allowance and free bus passes for the elderly, for example – are the ones which Cameron was forced to pledge support for during one of the televised leadership debates.
The National Health Service may be ring fenced, but £20bn of ‘efficiency savings’ must still be found, almost certainly leading to job losses. Some key Conservative manifesto pledges such as free prescriptions for those with long term illnesses and a one week wait for cancer diagnoses have also been lost. There is also some speculation that cuts to local councils may lead to less social care opportunities in some areas, meaning that hospital beds are taken by elderly or disabled people unable to be discharged with no one available to care for them. The public sector in general faces huge cuts, with half a million jobs to go (including 20, 000 in the police) and private industry expected to pick up the pieces if the plan is to work.
In addition to this assault on the public sector, this shrinking of the state will presumably also include various responsibilities being passed on to local councils in the name of the little-understood ‘big society’. This is in spite of a 7.1% annual fall in council budgets which, as mentioned above, is likely to have far-reached consequences. The cut of 24 quangos includes the traditional tory disregard for the arts, with the loss of the UK Film Council, and the BBC will be forced to do more for less with the licence fee frozen and the World Service now among their responsibilities. Add to all this a 40% cut to higher education, predicted to lead to college and university closures, along with the soaring tuition fees, and no one escapes without suffering.
The comparison to Thatcher, at least in terms of opinions towards the state, is obvious. Yet Thacher had a clear majority, and a mandate to govern. Her government won power with manifesto pledges which were then put in place. Contrast this with the current situation; no one voted for a coalition, and the majority of the measures being taken did not appear in either manifesto. Effectively we have an unelected cabinet taking huge gambles with people’s lives. “We’re all in this together” has been stated nearly as many times as “it’s Labour’s fault”, yet the poorest ten per cent are due to suffer most, even based on the governments own statistics. Tokenistic gestures such as a cut to the royal family’s budget do not mask the fact that these measures will severely affect the opportunities of thousands.
