Page 265 - Standards Not Structures?

The Coalition Government have announced the most radical cuts to public services the UK has ever experienced. For months Osborne and his colleagues have prepared the ground by trying to convince us that the deficit is about as sustainable as a Welsh Tory and that the cuts will be fair. Yet with the figures in, the most striking aspect of the reductions is their uniformity. Only Defence has avoided the seemingly obligatory 25% cuts.

It begs the question what sort of analysis preceded this historic spending review? Was it the traditional shot in the dark method? ‘Clutching at straws’ roulette? Perhaps they drew the figure out of a hat? What is without doubt, is that the imposition of a blanket 25% reduction reveals these cuts for what they really are, an attack on the public sector with only political rather than practical ends.

Surely any sort of genuine analysis would have thrown up some sort of balancing act between individual departments abilities to make savings whilst still doing their jobs? instead the Coalition have imposed a seemingly arbitrary figure that will no doubt have significant but arbitrary consequences. So much for fairness!

In one of Tony Blair's more enlightening moments in, 'A Journey' he concludes that, after bitter experience, the ability to deliver on public services was not down to the rhetoric of standards but entirely due to structures." In the rush to deliver cuts, the Coalition may have lost the ability to deliver services. It will be a long cold winter for many.

Article first published as Standards Not Structures on Technorati.