So the cat is out of the bag! It came in last week‘s Spending Review from Chancellor Brown when he as good as owned up to having wasted £22 billion of tax payers money.
He was outlining his supposedly lavish spending proposals for the next three years, to be funded—he says—by "efficiency savings". These savings will apparently be found from some 100,000 civil servants losing their jobs.
The irony of this position is that under Labour 511 civil servants a day are being recruited. Now Brown is going to sack some of them, which makes us conclude that they were not needed in the first place.
Isn‘t he just trying yet another ruse designed to confuse and dupe the taxpayer? First hires a load of staff to carry out a range of government initiatives—then sacks them again when he wants to make "savings".
More than a tinge of hypocrisy as well perhaps. For if the Conservatives propose slimming down the civil service they are accused by Labour of cutting services, whilst if Labour do the same they are making "efficiencies"!
Let‘s look at the announced settlement. For England 2·7% per year. That may seem alright on the face of it, but why are we getting less than Northern Ireland?
Why is Wales to get even more and Scotland getting more still? Of course it is nothing to do with the fact that by and large Wales and Scotland vote Labour!