Tories to outline spending cuts after the Budget

toco

Well done David Cameron and George Osborne for treating the electorate like grown-ups.The alarmingly erratic and dysfunctional Brown thinks we are all idiots and treats us as such.

Kirsty Richards

Oh I fear Cameron and Osborne are going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This cuts obsession is not resonating with voters it is alienating them.

Gawain

I hope this is true. It will not only force Labour to respond it will also put Vince Cable under a very piercing spotlight.

luke

Wow that is high risk. Will the boldness pay off?

Less than about 5-10BN and it will look like peanuts.

But where do you find politically neutral spendings cuts of 5-10BN?

denis cooper

On the matter of treating us like idiots, I don't think there's much to choose between the three parties.

toco

Kirsty Richards
Honesty is treating people like grown-ups and anything less simply will not do.The electorate being intelligent people worked this out ages ago.

charles hercock

Kirsty,Luke no.The electorate are ready for the truth.It is oh so clear now that they will understand that the Spring of Unite Discontent unfolding shows that Labour will not be able to do the job to get UK finances back on track.More please Cameron and Osborne

Right On

Toco - have to agree. Under the onslaught of an election campaign trying to hide the need for cuts would be suicidal for the Tories.

Brown can get away with it due to the fact that people want to believe it's not as bad as all that but the only path for Osbourne is honesty about how bad things are.

A good couple of days from Osbourne who has come over as mature, sensible and smart. Will be interesting if this filters through to the mainstream on whether they have settled on their "Osbourne is rubbish" narrative and are sticking to it.

Hawkeye

So what if the tories "frighten the horses" and wind up in second place? If the electorate is stupid and short sighted enough to vote that idiot Brown back in then they deserve everything they get.

The alternative is to lie, dissemble and spin during the campaign and then break all your promises as soon as you get in power. If I want a party that does that I can vote Labour. They already have a proven track record in chucking their electoral promises. We do not need two parties at it.

Richard

Spending cuts hey!
Well it will be interesting to see how much the real difference will be between the parties.....peanuts in real terms I suspect.
Most of the population have already decided how they are going to (70%) the remainder will vote on other issues, only a very few are going to be swayed by GO's cuts programme.
The trouble with the political class's is they forget that most people think they are wierdo's and will vote according to local issues that effect them directly.
For the elderly its health care for the parents its schools, the jobless its jobs, those with large mortgages its interest rates and jobs.......
Only the money men are interested in the ebbs and flows of the financial markets the rest of us don't care.

floatingvoter

This is craziness.The more they tell people what they are cutting, the more attractive the Labour position of saying that "there will be tough choices" seem appealing. Who wants to read about bad news today when you know its coming anyhow.

teledu

Well said Hawkeye.

Fox in a box

Seems the boys Dave and George have managed to hold their nerve, whilst all around were losing theirs, and the time for the "whites of the eyes" is nigh.

Look, if they level with the electorate, plot a sensible path back to fiscal responsibility, and are still rejected by the voters, then the British public deserve everything they f*cking get.

J. Cuttance

a valid argument against in the labour investment vs tax cuts debate is the fact that labour investment has so far yielded a negative return.

GDT

I think most decent people appreciate that Britain cannot go on spending money the way Brown is. They also realise that any comment to the contrary is a lie. A bit of honesty right now I think will be welcomed by the electorate.
People want to know more about the Tories - plans for the economy is a good place to start - getting rid of the deficit and reducing the debt.

tom holland

surely to god it cannot be difficult to find say 50bn of savings?? I mean trident alone costs about 10bn - bring it on. If the electorate are so stupid as to not see this then we all deserve labour.

2trueblue

Well it beats spending the grandkids inheritance, again. If people can not understand that all the money is gone and that there are no free lollipops then we are doomed. Here's hoping that most people have seen through Brown and Liebore by now. If not then we will all pay, again and again and again.

Fergus Pickering

Richard, weirdo's is illiterate. Are you a greengrocer, child? The content if your post is of course beneath contempt: Ordinary people are stupid so let's tell them lies or, better, not tell them anything.

So, is this right. The Tories are going to tell us before the election where the cuts will fall. Yes, cuts, dearie, cuts. Because there isn't any money. And the Socialists are not going to tell us. Yes, certainly I'd rather lose our way than win their way

Dorothy Wilson

"Only the money men are interested in the ebbs and flows of the financial markets the rest of us don't care."

You - and the "rest of us" - will care if Labour is returned to power and those money men down-grade the UK's credit rating thus pushing up the cost of financing Brown's enormous debt and sending the economy into yet another downward spiral.

Grow up - and get real!

Right On

I think if this is done correctly it has great potential. If there is wasteful spending that the Tories can show the public is not frontline and (in some instances) quite silly they can show
1. How much money the government have wasted
2. That they are being fiscal responsible without slashing popular services and
3. Demonstrate that all public spending isn't stimulative as Brown is attempting to claim.

If Brown and Darling go with another smoke and mirrors budget then this will be the Tories chance - they MUST get it right.

THX1138

Don't cut anything that is important to me will you!