Between all the Prime Ministers elected in last years in the western world, the British one, David Cameron, didn’t seem to be the most revolutionary. But after that the first act of his Government has been, last 20 Octobers, the launch of a very hard and for many aspects historical Spending Review, many international observatories had started to change idea.
The principle of the hard line financial bill wanted by his Majesty’s government is clear and simple: the only way to avoid a drift such as the Greek one is to cut structurally and in depth the public expenditure. At the same time, this measure will also help to turn back the power of a strong central government that during the Labour age favoured a strong increasing of London Ministry bureaucracy, which caused a reduction in local self-governments power making London as the English version of the French “super-Paris-centric”. In the eternal debate between keynesians (which set their theories of economic recovery on public expenditure) and tax accountants (which give more importance to public accounts) even to push away the risk of grecization) Great Britain, therefore goes toward the second category.
The First victim will be British welfare universally considered as a symbol of the European social model after the second world war. According to official sources British welfare represents the 28% of British public expenditure. With a cut of costs estimated in almost 83 Billions Pounds.
The parallel introduction of the Universal Credit, which is the most meaningful and expressive novelty of the measure, to lean the entire National Insurance system and to fight the economic wastes and the several improper welfare revenues, No discounts are allowed for nobody, in theory. House, households and unemployment benefits will be generally reduced and rationed. The age of retirement will be at 66 years both for men and women within 2018.
A rough measure necessary if His Majesty’s subjects pay each year 43 billions Pounds of rates on public deficit as being revealed by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
David Cameron, in itself, said that the heaviest measures adopted since 60 years will hit especially the middle class. According to Downing Street, in fact, the wide galaxy made up by public subsides has brought many middle class households to give up in the search of a job.
It seems that the National Health Service (NHS), will be the only sector that won’t be interested by general cuts, at least for the first year. The health service will be still granted on a base of need and not of wage level.
The Economist has defined the coalition government as one of the bravest in western countries. The unfair truth is that the measures taken today by “fiend Albione”, will be certainly presented again by many other nations of the industrial countries which want to avoid a possible and fearful Hellenic drift.
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