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The deficit must be cut
AT THE beginning of the week, David Cameron made a speech with some rather alarming messages: because the previous Labour Governments spent money like it was going out of fashion, Britain's budget deficit is huge - even bigger than in debt-defaulting Greece.
We're spending 4 for every 3 in revenue.
So just to keep the pensions paid, doctors and nurses in the hospitals, and teachers in the schools, we're having to borrow 1 out of every 4 we spend.
It is vital that we take immediate action to cut the deficit. Unlike the last Government we recognise that you can't just put your head in the sand and hope that when you next come up for air everything has fixed and it's back to the good old days.
We are committed to taking immediate and drastic action but central to our way of thinking is that we must protect the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. We must keep Britain united – we are all in this together and we must have a united approach.
If we don't tackle the issue head on, our economy could go the same was as that of Greece.
One of the most significant repercussions could be that interest rates would soar.
This would damage every individual, every family and every business.
More and more taxpayers' money would be spent on paying off the interest on our national debt, rather than on schools, hospitals and the police.
A few facts and figures might help readers to grasp the significance of the problem – and a warning – the numbers involved are mind-boggling.
Today our national debt stands at 770bn. Within five years it is set to nearly double – to a whopping 1.4trn.
If you can't visualise a trillion, it might help by saying that that level of debt would be the equivalent of 22,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
We are dealing with shockingly huge numbers.
So, what are we doing about this mind-blowing debt? We've already launched and completed an in-year spending review to save 6bn of public spending.
Our new and independent Office for Budget Responsibility will set out forecasts for growth and borrowing – to prevent this disaster from being repeated.
And in a couple of weeks' time, our emergency budget will set out how we will cut the majority of our deficit over the next five years.
It's not going to be easy and we are upfront about that.
The economy and our country need decisive, firm action and that is what we are aiming for.
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Thunderstorm
Temperature: 14 C to 26 C
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