Thursday 17th September 2009

No matter who is in government after the next general election, the chances of heavy public spending cuts are looking more and more likely, with Lord Mandelson hinting this week that Labour cannot solve problems simply by throwing money at them.
The debate over which services will be cut will be brought up constantly in the build up to the election and has become a big issue already. Conservative leader David Cameron will decrease ministerial pay and reduce the number of government cars if he becomes Prime Minister, but these cuts won't make huge savings.
Now I'm not a huge admirer of Lord Mandelson, but I think he's spot on with these alleged suggestions that the Trident nuclear submarine programme and ID cards could be abandoned or delayed to save money. Introducing compulsory ID cards costing £100 is hugely unpopular, I'm yet to meet someone who is in favour of the idea, its seen as just another way of taking away civil liberties and a complete waste of money.
Opposition will welcome abolishing ID cards, but failing to renew Trident will no doubt split opinion. We know the Liberal Democrats are not in favour of renewing the nuclear deterrent system, with Nick Clegg believing the world has moved on. I can't imagine the Tories will approve of this though, as the traditional Conservative wants Britain to continue to be a world superpower which they believe can only be achieved if Trident is renewed.
I don't see a need for Trident to be renewed, as its a luxury which we can only afford when finances are more stable. I would much rather see the money saved from Trident go towards providing our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq with proper equipment.
It will be interesting to see which public spending cuts will be announced over the next few months.


Going back to my blog on a televised leaders debate in the lead up to the election (see September 3rd entry), Gordon Brown is considering the offer, which Cameron and Clegg have already accepted. Sky has said they will leave an empty chair where Brown would have sat if he refuses the debate and this will be embarrassing for the Prime Minister, so its important for him and his party he takes up the offer. However, whilst doing some research for my dissertation last week, I was interested to find that in the build up to the 1992 general election Prime Minister at the time John Major refused to take part in a TV debate. Major and his Conservative party were still in power after Britain went to the polls, which suggests that if Brown spurns the opportunity to go head to head with his counterparts on live television it won't be the be all and end all.