Public sector services under threat
As the UK budget continues to spiral out of control there were some heated exchanges in the House of Commons yesterday between Gordon Brown and David Cameron. The Tory leader was caught out somewhat when his shadow cabinet minister suggested that the Tory government would implement 10% public sector budget cuts across the board. This played right into the hands of Gordon Brown who is now looking to make the next election a Tory cuts versus Labour investment affair.
However, on further reflection it appears as though the Labour government is already looking to implement its own significant public sector cost-cutting exercises with a 7% reduction suggested by "informed sources". So while the government continues to attack the Tories regarding their plans to cut public sector budgets, behind-the-scenes it looks as though they are about to follow suit.
This has apparently led to a significant fallout in the Labour Cabinet with Alistair Darling suggesting an honest approach with UK voters and Ed Balls apparently keen to keep the cost cutting figures under wraps until the next general election. It is no surprise that Ed Balls, who was rumoured to be after Alistair Darling's job, is looking to humiliate the Chancellor of the Exchequer yet again. Will we ever hear the truth?
Share this..
Related stories
HMRC goes online to tackle the tax dodgers
In a sign of the times, David Hartnett, the permanent secretary for tax at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has today confirmed the release of a video on YouTube targeted at "tax dodgers" in the UK. The government has taken to infiltrating social networking sites to warn the many "tax dodgers" in the UK who are refusing to divulge their total income and therefore escaping often significant tax payme...
Read MoreBank Of England figures cast shadow on housing recovery
It seems we have yet another day and yet another report into the UK housing sector which appears to be at odds with those seen over the last few days. Today's figures from the Bank of England revealed that mortgage holders in the UK are paying off more debt than new mortgages being taken out with around a net £418 million paid back in July alone. While it obviously makes sense to repay your mortg...
Read MoreWhen will UK savings rates start to improve?
Over the last few weeks we have seen signs that UK savings rates are starting to edge forward although the fine print of many of these "attractive" offers can be very different to the initial impression. The vast majority of these savings schemes, which offer upwards of 4% interest, require investors to lock in their savings for a number of years in order to access what are significantly higher sa...
Read MoreUK government unlikely to extend VAT holiday
The VAT holiday which many people believe has assisted the UK retail sector will end on 31 December 2009 - ending hopes of an extension next year. The move was effectively confirmed with today's government budget figures which showed that £8 billion was borrowed in July, a month which is historically very strong on the tax receipt front. The UK government has already confirmed that the budget def...
Read MoreWill National Express pay the price for rail franchise debacle
After handing back the East Coast rail franchise it looks as though National Express's days of independence could be numbered. It has been revealed that a wealthy Spanish family and private equity group CVC capital partners have teamed up to make an offer for the group which is believed to be in the region of £500 million. However, the value of National Express on the stock market is currently ar...
Read More