Pre Budget
Cuts
Nick Clegg experienced the pain in the
first round of cuts; the £2 billion cuts included the
£80 million government loan axed for Sheffield Forgemasters
in his bordering constituency. The giant factory secured a
£80million loan from the Labour Government, to make
Sheffield Forgemasters a world leader in forging high tech
giant steel reactor cores, currently only available from Japan.
With 80% of this production being exported, and an expanded
workforce, Sheffield Forgemasters felt the deal was good value
money. They received a phone call confirming the loan had
been withdrawn, just minutes before Danny Alexander announced
it in Parliament.
Nick Clegg the Deputy Prime
Minister said “The truth is that this loan was promised
by the outgoing Labour Government as a calculated ploy to
win support in Sheffield just ahead of the election, when
they knew all along that there simply wasn't the money to
keep to that pledge in first place.”
£80 million for a seat in Parliament,
has Nick Clegg been converted to the Tory mud throwing policy?
Maybe that was part of the deal to gain power. Thank
Goodness we’ve got Open and Fair Government
David Cameron said it was right to review
the decisions that were taken very close to the election by
the last government."There
was a suspicion that while some of these decisions might have
been good decisions, not all of them were good decisions and
not all of them were good value for money.
They may be
suspicion about Cameron’s ‘Free schools’
the original idea was for like minded
parents to set up there own schools. One such group in Yorkshire
were quick off the mark and were soon on television with advance
plans and a proposal to ask for £30 million. Education
Secretary Michael Gove has said he expects the first school
to be up and running by Sept 2011. Of the 700 or so groups
expressing an interest, parents weren’t mentioned. The
700 groups and the parents will all be chasing a small piece
of the £50 million the government are allocating. That’s
just over £71.000 each
Does that seem a little suspicious
after all the pre election hype? The existing nationwide project
to rebuild schools is liable to be cut or cancelled.
The Lib-Dems are complaining
loudly that they are being blamed for everything, but that
was part of the deal remember? But they don’t have to
take it for all of the 5 years, once they have changed the
system of dissolving parliament, and they have dished out
all the bad news, they can be discarded and still take the
blame. Proportional Representation – what referendum?
Forget it, think of all the people you intend putting out
of work.
In line with promises that cuts
would not affect frontline service, and a promise that David
Cameron would protect the NHS, Danny Alexander said the new
North Tees and Hartlepool hospital was cancelled.
Other cuts which will increase the jobless
total are:
The 2 year Jobseekers Guarantee from the Department Of Work
and Pensions...£515 million
The Extension of Young Person’s Guarantee also from
the DWP.....£450 million
The Future Jobs Fund also from the DWP.....£290 million
And the 6 month offer Recruitment Subsidy, also from the DWP...
£30 million
Danny Alexander said
he had found another £1 billion black hole. Yawn! They
have used that excuse before,
he claims they are for named projects but the treasury
won’t say what they are?
The Office of Budget
Responsibility when making their report last week factored
in the benefits of the jobs to be created by the programmes
and loans this coalition have cancelled. After the budget
it is expected the OBR will produce another report based on
the cuts, which it is feared will put back the recovery. The
opposition party will make hay of this, as long as the OBR
continue to be impartial, they will provide all the ammunition
the opposition needs.
It is being rumoured
that we are due for an interest rate rise from the bank of
England, let’s hope mortgage interest rates don’t
go as high as 15% as they did in the 90’s.
Vic
Farron RFT
Express. Download the
OBR report.
Follow us on Twitter
:: Facebook
:: and Blogspot
Bookmark this page using the ‘Share’ button
