Scottish government under pressure regarding health cuts
The SNP is this weekend under immense pressure from the healthcare profession in Scotland amid claims that the party is looking to exclude the NHS from forthcoming budget cuts. In a very welcome show of common sense, various elements of the NHS have stepped forward to conclude that the sector should not be immune from efficiency and budget cuts in the short to medium term.
There is a feeling amongst many in Scotland that the SNP is looking to ring fence the NHS in Scotland simply because of political reasons with the forthcoming Scottish elections. The truth of the matter is that even if the SNP wants to officially ring fence the NHS from budget cuts there would be changes to the profession behind the scenes. There is no one budget in the whole UK government which can escape cuts although some may be protected more than others.
If the likes of the NHS, police and other front-line services were to be excluded from budget cuts this would mean enormous reductions in spending across a variety of other departments. When you consider the amount of money which the UK government needs to "save" each year there is no chance this would be achievable.
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