Even the BBC now thinks spending has to be cut

There’s a trailer playing on Radio 4 at the moment for Decision Time. It’s a new show in which Nick Robinson looks at how tough political decisions are made. In the trailer, Nick Robinson talks about the aim of the programme and then says the first programme will look at public spending. His sign-off is:

“How would you cut spending–because it does have to be cut”

This strikes me as a hugely important shift in the political weather, the BBC now accepts that public spending has to be cut: not the rate of growth slowed but cut. This should embolden the Tories as it suggests that knee-jerk cries of ‘Tory cuts’ will not have the same resonance that they once did and, crucially, won’t be reported in the same way by the BBC.