By Fearghus Roulston
British Chancellor George Osbourne announced today that the government intends to take £80 billion out of the public sector budget over the next four years. Welfare, the Home Office, and local councils will face the brunt of the cuts, which are the biggest raft of cuts since the Second World War. One in twelve civil service jobs are expected to disappear. Overall, government departments not specifically exempt from the cuts will have their budgets reduced by 19 percent, despite fears before the Comprehensive Spending Review that they could be reduced by more than this.
The police budget will be reduced by 18 percent over the four years, with more focus being placed on terrorism. There will also be a clampdown on welfare fraud, which Mr. Osbourne claimed could save the government £5 billion. This comes along with the axing of child benefits for higher earners, announced at the Conservative Party Conference. Housing benefit is also to be slashed, saving £7 billion a year, but benefits for pensioners such as free television licenses will remain intact. The state pension age will be moved to 66 in 2020.
Explaining the austerity measures to MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Osborne said: “Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink, when we confront the bills from a decade of debt.”
He acknowledged the toll these measures would take on the public sector, and confirmed the figure of 490,000 job losses in coming years. However, cuts to the Scottish budget were not as severe as expected. Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney had warned of a £1.2 billion reduction, but the figure announced today was £900 million. The stringency of the measures drew criticism from across the political spectrum. Labour leader Ed Miliband accused Mr Osborne of taking an “irresponsible gamble with our economy and, indeed, many of the frontline services people rely on.”
SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said: “George Osborne has pulled the rug from under recovery with these reckless cuts, and risks plunging the country back into recession.”
