Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
The spending review is out; many commentators have had their say on who will be hit the hardest and how they will be affected. Some may say it is the action of the same old Tories, protecting the wealthy and leaving the less well off in the gutter. I believe however the current government has done quite well considering the situation the British economy is in. Additionally, trying to exude a sense of harmony in the coalition whilst battling each other’s idealisms is something to be admired.
The Economist puts the expected deficit for this year at 10% of GDP. The Office for National Statistics has calculated the net deficit is at £952 billion, which is 64.6% of GDP. Traditionally Conservatives have never been fond of deficits. However, it’s not just idealism that drives this change but also a real concern that the economy could weaken considerably for the long-term future through decreasing investor confidence and an increasing dependence on the public to continue paying interest on government borrowing. During the Labour years, their extravagant spending, which was filling the hole the private sector did not want to enter was undermining the wealth creation process. The public sector is now huge, bureaucratic and full of unwanted cost. Although job cuts will happen, I cannot see any viable alternative to reducing the public sector size and spending in the time frame the government has set.
Although there are fears that the unemployed will not be able to find work, there has been some good news in the fact that economic growth for the third quarter was at 0.8%. According to the BBC’s Stephanie Flanders, that is the greatest third quarter growth Britain has achieved in a decade. This suggests that there may be an increasing amount of jobs being made available. This may assuage fears that the cuts would bring Britain back in to recession because the private sector looks like it is picking up the slack.
Welfare is going to take a large chunk of the pain as well. Benefits of the working class look like they will be squeezed drastically. It is time that the welfare system is reviewed and changed anyway. Since it is one of the largest areas of government spending, it can be assumed that it will be one of the areas with the largest cuts. Some benefits are generous to say the least and some even abuse them for massive gains. The middle class are not saved at all either. Child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers will be removed. Education cuts will amount to 11.5% that the middle classes are widely regarded to value the most. The Telegraph reports that higher earners will be hit by higher taxes, the loss of public services worth £500 a year and the loss of welfare benefits. Arguably higher earners could bare even more of the brunt since in terms of the percentage of income lost, the outlined cuts hurt the middle and lower classes harder.
Higher education cuts of 40% are very deep but necessary. As a student, this will probably affect me more than any other cut. On the one hand I despise that my debt may rise significantly, I believe that higher education funding should be done more through those that consume it. We as students benefit disproportionately individually compared to money we supply (in the future). The public pay a high proportion for our studies but will benefit less from us in the future. Max A. of Alcuin College says, “Cuts to university funding may reduce the amount of unnecessary degrees that don’t really require university in order to get in to their respective career.” Furthermore, an increase in tuition fees will reduce the demand for university degrees, therefore decreasing the amount of graduate competition for jobs which is extremely high right now. Although this would be great, there would need to be more opportunities for young people to take vocational courses or internships if they weren’t to go to university. If the government is serious about create industry and export driven growth this is important as we need the skills to satisfy it.
There are many other changes happening in different areas such as defence and justice but there is not enough space to right about them in one article. I have given a brief overview of why the budget cuts are needed but this is such a complex, divisive and wide reaching topic that the debate will continue for years. I believe the cuts are right to be as deep as they are, perhaps they could be directed differently but to halt a sustained slump in economic growth. It is now or never to tackle the problems by which we are all affected.
For why the spending cuts could potentially do more harm than good, read Fabio Marsoner's article here.
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