The newly formed Office for Budget Responsibility is now open for business although the first act was to shoot down the previous government's economic growth forecast for 2011 from 3.25% to around 2.2%. As a consequence, this could impact upon the massive austerity programme underway and indeed see the rumoured £60 billion in budget cuts increase dramatically over the next few months!
Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield are all set to face trial later this year in relation to their expenses claims as MPs. They lost their application today regarding a 300-year-old law which exempts MPs and Lords from prosecution with regards to parliamentary activity. However, despite the fact that their request to have the case thrown out of court was rejected today they have been given leave to appeal which will again cost UK taxpayers in excess of £100,000!
In a rather controversial statement, David Willetts, the Universities Minister, has suggested that students are a burden on UK taxpayers. While there has been no confirmation regarding the future funding of further education many believe this is a surefire sign that higher tuition fees are on the way. At a time when taxpayers are under pressure from all sides the UK government is looking at alternative arrangements for the funding of further education in the UK.
The CBI has today requested a "bold and ambitious" budget on 22 June asking for government assistance while attempting to curtail any potential tax rises. In reality this is not going to happen because the UK budget deficits needs to be addressed and UK national debt is set to hit £1.4 trillion over the next five years. Against this backdrop this will not be a giveaway budget and pain will be felt in the public sector, private sector as well as by consumers.
The coalition government's insistence that free school meal entitlements in England will not be extended, as suggested by the Labour Party, has not gone down well with poverty campaigners. The scheme which was introduced by the previous Labour government would have seen a further 500,000 families in the UK entitled to free school meals at a time when poverty is all around.
A report by the Which? magazine has highlighted a growing problem in the UK NHS system with many hospitals now making significant income from car parking charges and car parking fines. The Epsom and St. Helier University Hospital trust is reported to have clamped nearly 1,700 cars in one year and made a profit of over £1.8 million. However this is just the tip of the iceberg with car parking charges adding more pressure to patients and visitors who are often in difficult situations to start with.
George Osborne has today announced that a number of departments within the UK government could see their budgets slashed by up to 20% as the need to shave £60 billion from the UK budget in the short-term begins to become a reality. Departments such as welfare, tax credits and pensions are likely to be hit hardest with a major crackdown on benefit fraud and benefit cheats likely to be announced in the short-term.
The UK government has indicated that future budget cuts will take in areas such as benefits, tax credits and pensions as well as many other different departments and different spending plans. This is the first time the government has formally indicated which areas will suffer most from the expected £60 billion of cuts to be implemented in the short-term. However, is this enough?
Northern Rock, the taxpayer owned banking operation, has today revealed plans to cut 650 jobs by the end of 2010. It is hoped that there will be no compulsory redundancies required and the 650 job losses will consist mainly of those leaving the group or entering retirement. However, unions believe that the final number of job losses in this particular phase will top 990 a figure which is nearly double that announced today.
As the UK government looks to introduce up to £60 billion of budget cuts in the short to medium term David Cameron has enlisted the help of the people to identify areas where potential savings can be made. However, is David Cameron involving the people so that they can just protect his own back?
