Is it too late for the government to do a U-turn on public sector spending?
Amid signs that there is growing resistance towards the government's so-called austerity measures, the question of a possible U-turn is almost certain to be brought up over the coming weeks. So can the UK government afford to do a U-turn on public sector spending and reduce the pace at which the budget will be cut?
The simple answer to this question is no - due to the fact that the government has taken the view that austerity measures are required to protect the UK's credit rating on worldwide money markets. This will obviously introduce short to medium-term pain for the UK economy but ultimately a defence of the UK credit rating was something which David Cameron always had at the forefront of his mind. If the government was to do a U-turn today then all credibility would be lost in the worldwide investment markets and the UK economy and UK finances would be in a worse situation than we could possibly imagine!
David Cameron has now made a path for the future and unfortunately no matter what is thrown at him and his coalition government he will need to be strong and ride out the rough times ahead.
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