Alistair Darling refuses to rule out public spending cuts
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was this evening unable to give unequivocal guarantees that the UK government would not look to reduce public sector spending in the years ahead. Despite Gordon Brown mounting a significant campaign against Tory party cuts in the future, the Labour government is unable to give any spending guarantees beyond 2011. The suggestion that the government will increase spending up until the general election, and then reduce investment thereafter, is one which is starting to curry favour with many analysts.
Despite the fact that taxes in the UK have increased somewhat over the last few months, and look set to increase further in the years to come, the main battleground for the next general election appears to be the public sector. Even though supporters of the UK government admit the sector has become bloated and more influential than it should be because of significant investment on an ongoing basis, it does have very strong union backing.
However, just a couple of days ago we saw a suggestion that the public sector would need to lose around 350,000 jobs over the next few years with investment set to fall dramatically. This really is a vital subject for the Labour Party, the Conservatives and public sector workers in the UK as we approach the next general election.
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