Politics behind spending cuts

THERE is one reason why the Government will be losing little sleep over the leaking of its latest spending cuts – it enables George Osborne to imply that counter-terrorism budgets will now be protected following Drummer Lee Rigby’s senseless murder, and that it would be remiss of the Liberal Democrats not to fall into line on this issue of national security.

Yet, while this opportunism negates the possibility of stories about the potential of cuts to M15 and other security agencies at a time when the whole country is mourning the young soldier’s death, the breakdown in collective responsibility could further damage the coalition’s credibility in the longer term and highlight its dysfunctional nature.

This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from Work and Pensions Secretary’s Iain Duncan Smith offer to impose further cuts to the welfare budget – a move that many will welcome – provided that this helps to spare the Armed Forces and the Home Office’s budget. It is almost unprecedented for a minister to act in this way.

This has been done to try and bounce Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems into agreeing further cuts to benefits as relations between the two coalition parties continue to deteriorate further after both differed over the Government’s response to the Leveson report on media ethics.

Yet, while the latest cuts of £11.5bn are very modest, and will only make a minimal difference to the overall size of the deficit, it is significant that only 20 per cent of the planned savings have been accrued – and these have been from smaller Whitehall departments.

However the ramifications are likely to be serious, even more so after the decision was taken to conduct negotiations in public. Many will be aghast that overseas aid spending is still exempt from the cuts process, and the posturing of Mr Osborne and others is unlikely to hasten Britain’s economic recovery – the key to reducing the country’s debts, cutting the welfare bill and enabling vital services to be protected.

And, given that Mr Clegg’s party will inevitably seek their own concessions, it would be unwise to judge this budget round on these leaks. After all, the outcome is likely to be very different once the final negotiations have been completed.