My Dad is a lifelong Tory. Almost institutionalised. So he is looking forward to this election. It’ll bring change.
In Northern Ireland it is quite clear – and almost every party accepts this –that the size of the state has got too big,” Cameron said.
“We need a bigger private sector. There are other parts of the country, including in the north-east. The aim has got to be to get the private sector, to get the commercial sector going.
“Over the next parliament we have got to see a faster growing private sector, we’ve got to broaden our economic base and we need to have a rebalancing of the economy between the commercial and private sector on the one hand and between the state sector on the other.”
The thing is, this is common sense. This is not Conservative policy, this is plain economic policy and should be supported by every party. They may not due to losing potential votes – but this will need to happen anyway.
We do need a bigger private sector. And this will mean massive cuts in the private public [Thanks, Andy – M] sector but this is not a bad thing if it spurs more private sector. And we can’t always look to the government to provide jobs, we need to be part of that change.
I have ideas on how to do this. But it requires sweeping, transformational change in the way we educate, the way we support innovation and the way we legislate for business. These things need to be in place before the cuts and ready to receive the newly unemployed once the cuts hit.
Matt,
I think you mean “And this will mean massive cuts in the public sector”, not the private sector as stated.
I don’t normally comment on politics in NI, as it normally revolves around the sovereignty issue. But I think the chances of real change to the size and make-up of the public sector in NI have probably decreased since devolution. Local politicians seem simply unable to make the tough choices that everyone knows are required (transfer test anyone?)
Assuming the Conservatives actually go into government following the election, they will have such a narrow margin that they could be dependant on any UUP MPs. How likely is that they will then implement swingeing cuts to the NI public sector?
Regards,
Andy.
Hi Andy,
The cuts needed in the public sector will have to come because there will be no choice. The money coming from Westminster will decrease so something will have to go. I do reckon that we’ll see a serious decrease in the quality of delivery of public services due to the cuts simply because the Civil Service will cut the workers before they cut the managers.
Devolution or not, anyone painting this as a Conservative move is being disingenuous. The cuts are coming. Labour know it, the LibDems know it and, to be honest, the DUP, SF, SDLP, C&U and the others know it. It’s interesting to see how many will say it.
Hi Matt,
I agree, whoever wins will the election will have to slim the public sector. My point is that the winning UK party could be so reliant on the small number of MPs that whatever NI party they are working with, that they don’t cut as deeply as is actually required to stimulate NI’s economy.
I also completely agree that the NI parties must see this coming, but I doubt if any of them will be responsible enough to actually state it publicly. They will prefer to blame Westminster for the coming cuts rather than take charge and swing the axe themselves.