Overall expenditure is barely changing, but departmental cuts need to be made. Why? Because the cost of servicing our national debt is going up because we are adding to it at a monumental rate. This cost would be going up more quickly if a) borrowing was higher under Labour plan, b) interest rates were higher. Thus deeper cuts wd have to be made in future to balance the budget. Why does nobody on here acknowledge this?

On the numbers our head of comms has provided our logic here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12879582

I don’t agree that our policy work or language inflamed the violence – I doubt the hooligans smashing in shop windows have ever given much thought to what the TUC has to say – in my view they just wanted an excuse to commit a crime. So I think we’ll have to disagee on that one.

And on the scale of the cuts I think we’re also in disagreement. I don’t think that the sharpest retrenchment since the war is relatively mild, and as our research shows the value of services that will be lost for very poor families will make a significant different to their lives. For example, one woman I know will, from April, be losing access to her free ESOL class, will be over £1000 worse off each year as various benefits she receives to help her with the costs of bringing up her children are cut and will no longer have access to a local children’s centre.

Anyway best wishes – thanks for a pleasant debate!

Best
Nicola