news

In today’s Times, Monday December 2009, the government have stated that to help bring public finances back into line, they intend to save £10 billion through cutting quangos and Whitehall costs. This reminds us of the Lyons report and the Gershin reports of 2004. We wonder whether those relocation and cost cutting reviews ever delivered on their promises. We don’t hear much about this anymore, so it is difficult to judge. Also, this could be bad news for those parts of the private sector that derive work from the public sector. This could lead to the dreaded double dip that we all want to avoid, so the timing of this is questionable, especially as the long trumpeted recovery has yet to start in the UK. As well as the obvious, this could have an impact on the office and industrial property market’s in and around the M25, as more firms are driven to the wall and would push up vacancy rates in already struggling towns in the south east. We appreciate that it is important to get our debt back to manageable levels, but not so at the expense of any recovery. Once we areoiut of the woods, it would be good to see the government practice what they mean and try to live within the countries means!!