Has Alistair Darling won his battle with Gordon Brown?
It is rumoured Alistair Darling is currently in the process of warning ministers and various departments in the government that they will need to reduce their public spending in the short to medium term. Despite promising that areas such as the NHS would continue to receive increased investment year-on-year, many departments will have to reduce their spending by as much as 16%!
Public sector spending on the whole is expected to increase by 2.2% for the current financial year although it will be reduced by 0.8% in each of the tax years 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14. While the government has yet to confirm this speculation regarding potential cuts of up to 16% in some departments, there is a feeling that Gordon Brown has lost power in the run-up to the election and it is literally "a free for all" in the cabinet.
It is also apparent that the UK electorate wants to see a significant reduction in UK public spending which will be one of the main focuses in the run-up to the general election. Gordon Brown is slowly watering down his promise to increase public sector spending but at what loss to his reputation?
It is noticeable that since the attempted coup against Gordon Brown we have seen many more cabinet ministers in the press and Gordon Brown sidelined on a number of subjects. Whether this is the work of Lord Mandelson or indeed a collective effort by the cabinet to reduce Gordon Brown's influence remains to be seen.
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