Climate change minister Greg Barker has said the government is making cuts that "Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s could only have dreamt of".
Climate change minister Greg Barker has said the government is making cuts that “Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s could only have dreamt of”. He made the comments on a visit to the Darla Moore School of Business in South Carolina.
Local newspaper The Daily Gamecock reports:
Barker began his speech by outlining Britain’s budget crisis and expressing the Conservative commitment to austere measures as a solution, saying his colleagues plan to cut spending by 75 percent.
“We are making cuts that Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s could only have dreamt of,” Barker said.
Barker’s comments, as well as letting the cat out of the bag on the true scale of cuts – 75 (seventy five) per cent – also further undermine the claims of some right wing commentators, like Toby Young, that there will be next to no cuts.
As Nicola Smith wrote on these pages last week:
‘Cuts, what cuts?’ asks Young – all of those worried about the devastating impacts these negligible spending reductions will have (and our polling shows it’s not just half a million marchers but over half the country) are simply ‘useful idiots’.
It is tempting to suggest that there is only one idiot here. Denying that Britain is about to face the sharpest cuts in public spending in decades is simply wrong…
The IFS, hardly known for being producers of misleading propaganda, have stated that:
“The cuts to total public spending… are, after economy-wide inflation, set to be the deepest since World War II and the cuts to spending on public services will be the deepest since the four years beginning in April 1975.”
Reducing spending, while the population and its needs continue to grow, will have real impacts. The poorest will be hit hardest, unemployment will rise and services will suffer. And it won’t only be the public sector that is hit – with 38p in the pound of public spending going directly to private sector companies workers and businesses across the economy will, as the FT sets out, feel the impact.
Last year, Wikileaks cables revealed foreign secretary William Hague’s description of himself, David Cameron and George Osborne as “children of Thatcher”. Today’s revelations will reinforce that perception.
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
166 Responses to “Tory minister: We’re making cuts Thatcher “could only have dreamt of””
fran
RT @johannhari101: Tory minister brags: “We're making cuts that Thatcher could only have dreamt of” http://tinyurl.com/3gherj2
damon brown
Amazing how quick off the mark the trolls are. The comments section of any given blog is the measure of its perceived power.
The Telegraph and Mail comments sections are positively flower draped and wind chimed in comparison with the Indy and Grauniad who drip with American Libertarians and their weaker cousins the murdacre brigade, launching their distortions and vitriol at anybody who waves a hairy toe towards the left of the centre line.
Welcome to LFF people, haven’t you got homes to go to?
There goes the neighbourhood.
David Nissen
What is Toby Young talking about! Centrepoint has just had its Ealing hostel income cut by 40% YES – 40% resulting in a cutback of staff from 9 to 4 making it impossible to continue to exist in the coming year. This was directly because Supporting People in Ealing has obeyed the government cutbacks.
No one is going to tell me that this condem government is only cutting by 3%
gemma
RT @leftfootfwd: Tory minister: We're making cuts Thatcher "could only have dreamt of": http://bit.ly/g1oSgA reports @ShamikDas
Joanna Griffiths
RT @johannhari101: Tory minister brags: “We're making cuts that Thatcher could only have dreamt of” http://tinyurl.com/3gherj2