First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 23/11/15
The Chancellor will need to eat humble pie if he wants to balance the budget
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, due on Wednesday, was always going to be the centre of attention. He has to show where roughly £24bn of unprotected departmental spending cuts will fall during this parliament, along with £12bn of welfare savings. While events and the House of Lords have not been kind to the Chancellor, he has fallen into a trap, entirely of his and the government’s own making. The situation is not irretrievable, but it will require pragmatism, which he does not lack, to trump ideology, which he has in abundance….Read more:
