Cameron asks public workers how he should cut spending
PRIME Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg wrote to six million public sector workers yesterday asking for ideas on how to save money and tackle a record peacetime deficit.
Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget suggests 25 per cent spending cuts in all government departments except health and international development to balance a deficit of around 11 per cent of gross domestic product by 2015.
The letter to all state employees from the leaders of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is an attempt to win support for the toughest round of spending cuts in decades.
Lib Dem leader Clegg warned ahead of the May election that brought the coalition to power that failure to achieve public acceptance for the cutbacks could result in “Greek-style social and industrial strife”.
“We want you to help us find those savings, so we can cut public spending in a way that is fair and responsible,” the pair said.
They added: “You work on the front line of public services. You know where things are working well, where the waste is, and where we can re-think things so that we get better services for less money.”
Unison said its members would cooperate in helping to cut waste but warned vital services would still be hit. “The Prime Minister is misleading the country by claiming that you can shave a massive 25 per cent off budgets by cutting ‘waste’,” it said.