Public spending cuts will be very painful


The Prime Minister is, apparently, intending to introduce a “Fiscal Responsibility Act” to tackle Britain’s scandalously bad public sector finances. Well, I suppose, better late than never and I await the details with great interest. I also await the next Pre-Budget Report, which will include the Treasury’s latest economic forecasts and projections for the public finances. In particular, I shall be interested to see whether the Chancellor amends his target for “balancing the budget”.

IEA Regulation Fellow

Ruth Lea is currently Economic Adviser and Director of Arbuthnot Banking Group and Director of Global Vision. She is also a Governor of the London School of Economics. Ruth is the author of many papers on economic matters and writes regularly for the press. She was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies between 2004 and 2007 and Head of the Policy Unit at the Institute of Directors (IoD) between 1995 and 2003. Prior to the IoD, she was the Economics Editor at ITN. And prior to ITN, she worked in the City for six years. Prior to joining Mitsubishi Bank in 1988, she spent sixteen years in the Civil Service in the Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Central Statistical Office and the Civil Service College.



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