Spending cuts in Britain worst since World War II

[Hannah Bell]

After detailed examination of the UK coalition budget measures, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the country faces the “longest, deepest, sustained period of cuts to public services spending at least since World War II”. It is the first time that a British government has proposed six consecutive years of spending cuts.

The IFS refuted the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government’s rhetoric that the rich would “feel more pain” than the poor, stating, “If you look at reforms due to be introduced in 2013 and 2014, they hit the poorest hardest and indeed keep on hitting them more and more every year”.

- more than one million people face eviction from their homes.
- 900,000 will lose their housing benefit
- Hundreds of thousands will be forced out of family-sized properties
- A total of three million people will be affected by the housing benefit changes.
- 725,000 jobs will be lost in the public sector over the next five years.
- Another 200,000 people are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the rise in VAT.

The current official jobless total stands at 2.51 million, or 8 percent of the workforce. The government’s measures will add at least another million to that figure.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/budg-j28.shtml

[poverlay]

1. Damn .. Is it just me or does it seem like they're going about this all wrong? n/t

[girl gone mad]

2. Not just you.

Dark days ahead.

:(

[dipsydoodle]

3. I don't believe those figures

Period.

I also think that the ref to "family size properties" actually refers to the £400 / week cap on properties in which families on benefit live now restricted to 4 bedrooms too as opposed larger to central London properties with values running into millions.

Conveniently misses out jobs likely to be created in the private sector too.

[Hannah Bell]

4. well, take it up with the institute for financial studies, because that's where the data comes from.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/23/budget-welfare-poor-ifs-report

[Prophet 451]

5. SOP for the Tories

The evil bastards announced this morning that they want to cut my disability benefits too.