Public borrowing still soaring as April figures cast light on those 'cuts'

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...t-2288307.html

Public borrowing figure blow for Government as spending keeps rising..

The Government's deficit reduction plans were dealt a blow today after official figures revealed that last month's borrowing figures were the highest ever recorded for the month of April. Public borrowing, excluding financial interventions such as bank bail-outs, hit £10 billion, compared with £7.3 billion the previous year, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figure, which is higher than City expectations of £6.5 billion, will cast doubt on whether the Government can meet its target of bringing the deficit down to £122 billion this financial year. The ONS said tax receipts fell year on year, which had been boosted to the tune of £3.5 billion a year earlier by the tax on bankers' bonuses. However, there was some good news for the Government as borrowing figures for the year to March 2011 were revised downwards to £139.4 billion, from £141.1 billion. This was mainly caused by tax receipts being boosted after VAT was hiked to 20% from 17.5% previously, said the ONS. But the higher-than-expected borrowing in April pushed the Government's debt to a record £910.1 billion, or 60.1% of GDP.

..despite those 'cuts'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/c...the-world.html

I am sure we were all overjoyed to hear David Cameron boasting to the G8 meeting that Britain now contributes more of its GDP to overseas aid than any other country in the world. This was in the week when we also learned that, despite the latest tax rises, the £10 billion the Government had to borrow last month was the highest ever April figure on record.

Our revised borrowing figure for last year was just below £140 billion, which means that the Government has been spending nearly £3 billion a week more than its income – and, despite those famous “cuts”, its spending continues to rise. It’s good to know, though, that it only takes us 22 days to borrow the £8.5 billion we hand out each year in international aid, enabling our Prime Minister to boast that we are the most generous country in the world.

Right so lets get onto it, there really are no cuts - spending is rising and even the measly attempts to get the deficit down aren't working (whether or not they were supposed to work is another deal altogether) so please can the BBC, both sides of the media and everyone in general please stop complaining about these non-existant cuts which if you were to believe the media you'd assume the Pinochet regime had just won the election when in reality we are still on the road to financial ruin with debts of £7.9tn (Taxpayers alliance fig.) and rising.

Now I remember Labour supporters such as Catz, Oli +others arguing with Conservatives such as jam666, Jordy +others about these 'cuts' with the Labour side saying how draconian these cuts were and the Conservative side saying how they needed to be done (which they do) - but now that we've established that public spending is rising as opposed to being cut, isn't it time the two sides come together or even swap parties? the Labour supporters can now vote Conservative knowing they're doing exactly what the previous government did and the Conservatives well, they can either continue to pretend or can vote for a party which will cut.

The Conservatives *and now Liberal Democrats* are relying on support by making out as though tough decisions are being made by the mess left behind by Labour (even though they supported Labours spending plans upto 2008).. meanwhile Labour are courting their support by also making out that cuts are occuring, but that they are severe and are hurting the little guy - both stances are clearly false and now that you've seen the figures and facts i'd be interested to see what views everyone holds from both sides now with this news.

I support cuts in public spending which is out of control, i've been calling for them for years - but i'm afraid they're not happening, so whatever side of the fence you sit on - for gods sakes lets stop the pretence and wake ourselves up.

Thoughts? is the government handling the economy and debt well?

[dbgtz]

There are cuts, cuts to stuff we actually use. But they just decide to give more to other countries. No our country can't handle debt and as long as old men (who do not even connect or listen to the public whilst continuing to buttlick other countries) continue to run the country, then to be quite honest it's not going to get any better.

[Conservative,]

And to think I thought they might actually do something useful... Ugh why can't they have common sense and put the people of Britain first for once? Cut ALL aid until we're out of debt.

[alexxxxx]

just because public debt is rising doesn't mean there haven't been cuts, it means that tax receipts haven't been entirely what was expected, which appears to be what it says here. and some cost cutting measures don't save money in the short-run (you can't make people redundant without paying them money, often a year or more of their salary up front).

[Chippiewill]

"Britain now contributes more of its GDP to overseas aid than any other country in the world ... the £10 billion the Government had to borrow last month"
What is this I don't even.#

This is basically like a poor person taking out a massive loan for a sports car that doesn't work properly.

[Technologic]

I'm quite sure the government know what they're doing better than any of us

[Recursion]

I'm quite sure the government know what they're doing better than any of us

Agreed.

Although, whilst I think intercontinental relationships are good, we could stop giving money to countries like India who have more of a space program than the people who're funding them (i.e. us.)

[Catzsy]

No-one is saying that there should not be some cuts but it is the way they are being done - hitting the less advantaged harder than anything else. Considering the conservatives are supposed to be the party of business
I am amazed that they have withdrawn a 35 ml grant to Lotus to get the Lotus Esprit marketed again in favour of Toyota for their Espace. Lotus have now to make 100 redundant. I also saw Peter Hitchens on 'Question Time' the other night and I can now see who writes your scripts almost word for word including if you believe in helping Afghanistan 'you should join up'. LOL Maybe you should try writing them yourself?

[Jordy]

No-one is saying that there should not be some cuts but it is the way they are being done - hitting the less advantaged harder than anything else. Considering the conservatives are supposed to be the party of business
I am amazed that they have withdrawn a 35 ml grant to Lotus to get the Lotus Esprit marketed again in favour of Toyota for their Espace. Lotus have now to make 100 redundant. I also saw Peter Hitchens on 'Question Time' the other night and I can now see who writes your scripts almost word for word including if you believe in helping Afghanistan 'you should join up'. LOL Maybe you should try writing them yourself?

How would you propose carrying out the much needed cuts then?

I can't find any information on this Lotus grant but what the government have done doesn't sound unreasonable. A 35 million pound grant for a measly 100 jobs is very unsustainable, it's like the government paying £350k to hold down each workers jobs. Instead Lotus should be more innovative to try compete with other car manufacturers and get loans from banks if they need cash. Admittedly getting loans isn't that easy atm but Lotus isn't what you'd call a Small Business. Toyota also manufacture cars in this country (Much more than Lotus) seeing as they were forced to open factories in Europe thanks to EU Import restrictions, for instance the Toyota plant near me in Derby employees 3,800 people. Neither Lotus or Toyota is a UK car firm anyway, Malaysian and Japanese respectively.

[FlyingJesus]

Just out of curiosity, how does spending more than we're saving mean that cuts haven't happened? I'm not waving any banners against cuts because it frankly means very little to me personally and I'm selfish like that, but I don't think you can really suggest that there are no cuts just because the government's dishing out more money elsewhere. It's like if I sold my car for £400 and bought some shoes for £600, it doesn't mean I've still got my car