Is Cameron also signalling a shift in our defence policy?
by Guest

contribution by Ivo Petkovsky

The recently announced 8% cuts in the defence budget have brought out a raft of ideological commentary across the media. The Mail frets about the danger of a ‘fresh Argentinian invasion’ of the Falklands following the downsizing; the Guardian heralds the end of Tony Blair’s liberal interventionism doctrine with barely disguised glee.

The 8% cuts at first glance seem minor compared to the slash-and-burn other government departments have been subjected to, but in context they are not insignificant.
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by Richard Exell

A couple of days ago I noted that the Chancellor’s statement on the Spending Review exagerated the amount of social security fraud that takes place.

A report now suggests other ministers are prone to making the same mistake.

by Dave Osler

Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘Labour isn’t working’ advertisement of 1979 is rightly hailed as one of the most effective political posters of all time. 

Just those three words, superimposed on an image of a queue snaking back from a dole office, were a major factor in the electoral success that year of Margaret Thatcher.

by Stuart White

Imagine a parallel universe to our own. This universe is exactly like our own with just one difference: the Conservatives won a solid majority in the May 2010 general election.

So, in this parallel universe, George Osborne got up in the House of Commons just as he did yesterday and delivered exactly the same speech and spending review policy.

by Guest

If you turned on the television or computer after the Spending Review, you would have seen Labour shouting how mean the Tories are. Labour are different, and we should put our faith in them, they now say.

But because Labour are seen as our biggest hope of opposition to this suicidal economic agenda, you can’t mention Gordon Brown’s deregulation of a financial sector beyond Thatcher’s wildest dreams.

by Ellie Mae

In a moment of New Labour-bashing whimsy, Cameron seemed to justify the spending cuts by condemning the opposition’s original plan as ‘not good enough.’ To ratify his assertion, he quickly reeled off a list of organisations who apparently think the same: Bank of England, CBI, OECD, and the IMF. I can’t help but feel that [...]

by Jim Jepps

The Comprehensive Spending Review spelled some extremely bad news in the housing sector. It’s a review that will cause hardship for many and homelessness for thousands.

It’s not simply that Osbourne scaled back the plans of building new affordable homes by 30%, there has been a general assault on rights and benefits that will lead to misery and homelessness.

by Sunny Hundal

Hidden in the mass of detail rushed out yesterday was a key change that will cause untold misery and destroy lives.

You think I’m exaggerating? Here’s one example where it is happening already.

by Chris Dillow

By how much will public spending fall in real terms?

The Treasury puts the fall in departmental and administration budgets at 8.3% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15: see table A5 here (pdf). This could be too optimistic.

by Sunny Hundal

I’m tracking interesting reactions from people, organisations and bloggers as they come in. Please feel free to add your links below. ORGANISATIONS From Crisis, charity for single homeless people: Before the comprehensive spending review the coalition government made a clear pledge – that the cuts would be fair. That pledge has been broken. It is [...]

by Sunny Hundal

This is the start of a simple FAQ guide to the current economic debate for people who want simple answers and stats on what is going on and why it is wrong.

I appreciate a lot of people are starting from scratch on economic issues but are still interested in the ongoing debates. So I’ve tried to be simple and straightforward, with links that explain more.

 

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