BRITISH PRIME minister Gordon Brown was under pressure last night after a leaked treasury document showed that he is considering cutting UK public spending by up to 10 per cent over the next five years.
The treasury launched an inquiry into the leak of highly confidential documents to the Conservative Party, which discuss draconian plans to reduce government spending across all departments.
Earlier this week, the Labour Party, struggling in polls, condemned the Conservative Party’s spending plans, insisting that it would cut 10 per cent off spending if it wins next year’s general election, which is expected to be in May, if not before.
On Tuesday the prime minister conceded for the first time that cuts would have to be made, but insisted that Labour, if re-elected, would safeguard frontline services, unlike the Conservative’s “slash-and-burn” plans. However, the leaked treasury papers show that Mr Brown and chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling had already examined plans that would have the same impact, should they be re-elected.
Under the treasury’s “fiscal tables”, the authenticity of which have not been denied by either the treasury or Downing Street, spending would fall next year by 0.8 per cent, by 4 per cent in 2011-2012, by 1.8 per cent in 2012-2013, and by an even harsher 3 per cent in 2013-2014.
Mr Brown, speaking to the House of Commons on June 10th, said that spending in 2009-2010 would rise to £672 billion and then upwards to £702 billion in 2010-2011; to £717 billion in 2011-2012, to £738 billion in 2012-2013 and, finally, to £758 billion in 2013-2014.
Unlike in Ireland, where the financial year runs from January to December, the British government’s spending runs from April to April.
The Conservatives accused Mr Brown of lying to the House of Commons, though the treasury insisted that the papers produced in June are “assumptions, and not about decisions” and are constantly changing.
Tory leader David Cameron said: “Wednesday after Wednesday the prime minister stood up in the House of Commons and repeated the line that the coming battle was between Labour investment on the one hand and Tory cuts on the other.
“All those words have turned to dust and, as I consistently warned week after week, reality has now caught up with our prime minister. [He] was denying something that his own civil servants were telling him was true.”
Up to now the chancellor has delayed publishing detailed spending plans for each department beyond 2010-2011 because of uncertainties about the state of the British economy, future joblessness and tax revenues.
Under the treasury’s June figures, the UK social security budget will rise to £193 billion by 2013-2014, equal to one in eight of every pound generated by the British economy – compared to one in £10 today.
The documents – the leaking of which is to be investigated by a retired senior civil servant –were delivered to the Conservatives “in a brown envelope”, said shadow chancellor George Osborne.