Another blow to the government's economic strategy delivered by the National Audit Office, says Unite

25 March 2011

Another blow to the government's strategy of immediately slashing billions from public spending was delivered today (Friday, 25 March) by the National Audit Office (NAO), said Unite, the largest union in the country.

The NAO warned in a new report that to cut £6.2bn from Whitehall budgets this year could result in short-term service cuts rather than long-term efficiencies.

Unite General Secretary, Len McCluskey said: 'On the eve of the TUC march for an alternative, the NAO report is another nail in the coffin in the credibility of George Osborne's overall economic strategy.'

'The short-term 'slash-and-burn' strategy to get the deficit down at any cost – whether it is in the form of massive tax hikes; thousands losing their jobs; and health, education and local government services being axed – has been shown to be flawed by the NAO – the very body set-up to monitor value-for-money for the taxpayer.'

'There is an alternative – a reformed tax system where the wealthy pay their fair share; a longer period over which to reduce the deficit; and a more robust strategy to boost manufacturing than was unveiled in this week's budget.'

The NAO said: 'Because of the short time scale, there is a risk that much of the cost reduction achieved by departments in 2010/11 will result from policy decisions to withdraw funding and reduce budgets or other short-term measures, rather than structured and sustainable cost reduction.'

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