ECONOMIST VIEWS: DO THESE CUTS GO FAR ENOUGH?
ROBERT CHOTE | IFS
“Since £500m is being recycled, and £704m does not have to be found until next year, the likely reduction in borrowing in 2010-11 is around £5bn. This is less than a tenth of the fiscal repair job Alistair Darling’s March 2010 Budget suggested will be needed over the next few years.”
DR EAMONN BUTLER | ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE
“The cuts are a tiny step in the right direction. They at least show willing to take difficult decisions. But we need a complete re-think of what government actually exists for – what departments do, how they do it, whether it’s necessary and whether other people can do it better.”
HETAL MEHTA | ADVISER TO ERNST & YOUNG ITEM CLUB
“The new government deserves credit for identifying these cuts in the space of less than two weeks, but we must remember that £6bn is still a drop in the ocean compared with the scale of tightening that will be required over the course of the parliament.”