BUDGET 2010 – concern across the Nations

Ahead of today’s budget, across the devolved nations, there are growing warnings of the effects of the government’s likely cuts.

Northern Ireland

Whilst expressing his hopes that the Government would soften the blow, Esmond Bernie, Chief Economist at PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Northern Ireland, issued this warning:

“With swinging public sector spending cuts on his Budget radar, the Chancellor must be careful with regions like Northern Ireland that are heavily reliant on public expenditure.”

Mr Bernie’s comments came just days after Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson declared starkly to MLAs that, “The good years of increased year-on-year public spending have come to an end.”

Speaking of the £128 million of cuts Whitheall now expects of Stormont, First Minister Peter Robinson has warned that whilst front line public services should be protected, departmental cuts across the board will be necessary. He commented:

“The result of this reduction is that local departments will need to make savings, although these should come from reductions in bureaucracy and administration costs in the first instance – frontline services will need to become more efficient.

“However the scale of the challenge means a fundamental assessment will also be required of the services provided by the Executive and the best form of delivery.”

Wales

Across Wales, the pre-budget debate has concentrated on concerns over the possible effects on public health and housing.

The Western Mail reports the concerns of bacteriologist, Professor Hugh Pennington, that cuts could spark an Ecoli outbreak. Professor Pennington, who chaired a public inquiry into an Ecoli outbreak in South Wales in 2005 which killed a five year old child, cited an  outbreak in Canada in 2000, warning:

“The Canadian approach to managing budget cuts contributed to the regulatory failures that led to this massive outbreak.”

Russell Lawson, a spokesman forFederation of Small Business in Wales, voiced concerns that cuts could adversely affect the Welsh Housing Market:

“We have to remember that Wales starts from a very low base – our GDP is traditionally very low compared to the rest of the UK.

“We’re usually lumped in there with the north-east of England and Northern Ireland. So when you’re coming from a very low base anyway and you have more of a reliance on the public sector, and there are public sector cuts, obviously that means we’ll be hit harder.”

Meanwhile, with warnings of a VAT increase in today’s budget, the Leader of Welsh Lib Dems at Westminster, Roger Williams told that BBC that VAT was a “very regressive tax that falls most heavily on the poorest in society”, a clear indication of Lib Dem concern at any rise in VAT.

Scotland

Following reports in the Herald, in which Scotland’ Chief Medical Officer Dr Harry Burns warned of the threat cuts pose to public health services,  the vice-president of the Faculty of Public Health, Dr Steve George, revealed his own fears:

“some of those working at senior levels in public health might mistakenly get swept up in ‘management cuts’, rather than being viewed as what they are – a highly trained expert resource that needs to be preserved.”

And, in a joint statement with Shadow Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, Labour’s Leader at Holyrood, Iain Gray, declared:

“The economic recovery is fragile and cannot withstand the massive cuts Osborne is proposing without pain. His budget could threaten a new downturn and devastate Scottish jobs.”