IFS predicts £50bn spending cuts if Conservatives win election

IFS predicts £50bn spending cuts if Conservatives win election

 

George Osborne’s austerity programme for the next parliament would see Britain enduring a tighter tax and spending squeeze than any other major economy if the Conservatives won the general election, according to tax thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The IFS compares the coalition’s spending plans with those of 31 other countries. The chancellor’s aim of achieving an overall budget surplus make his plans for Britain the toughest, it said.

The IFS said the drastic squeeze would require further cuts of 14.1%, or more than £50bn, to annual spending over the next five years.

Voters should brace themselves for across-the-board tax increases in the early years of the next parliament

Labour’s fiscal target, of balancing the current budget as soon as possible in the next parliament, while allowing borrowing to fund investment, would require far less stringent cuts than the Tories’ plans, according to the IFS. Labour could meet its aim by cutting departmental spending by £5.2bn, or 1.4%.

The painful cuts planned by Osborne for the next parliament follow smaller-than-expected real terms cuts over the past five years than the coalition planned when it came to power.

 

Andy Beeby

Branch Political Officer