[Osem]

What HMG is having to do is save money. They're trying to do that by cutting costs and improving efficiency in those areas funded directly by the public purse. At the same time they're trying to create the conditions in which the private sector can take up some of those jobs and create new ones which don't come at a huge cost to the public purse. It's not rocket science but it does take time and sadly involve redundancies amongst those who've been led to believe their jobs/conditions etc. were secure. The very fact that the markets aren't imploding is the best possible evidence that this action is what the international financiers want to see and that's why our credit rating hasn't yet been devalued significantly. Put Brown back in office with a populist mandate to spend and that'll change and we'll be where Portugal is now.

The reality is that we cannot make companies operate here and we cannot prevent them from leaving if they so wish. There are plenty of countries competing with the UK for jobs, tax revenues etc. It may not be palatable but the only areas in which savings can be made are those over which HMG has control i.e. the public sector. Yes they can try to raise extra revenue from corporation tax and cut avoidance to bring in more money but, as popular as that may be to some, it certainly isn't going solve our problems and may well lead to us losing more jobs and more revenue as companies choose to relocate elsewhere. They've been doing this on quite a scale in recent years so let's not delude ourselves that this won't escalate if the burden on them is significantly increased. The net result of that will be the need for even more cuts in government spending and matters being taken out of our hands. If you think what's being done now is tough just contemplate what that would be like.

We had a government which, for over a decade, led everyone to believe they'd broken the cycle of boom and bust. They had us believe we could spend our way to everlasting growth and prosperity. What a nice thought that is, how popular amongst the electorate to make them believe we can spend money we don't have and get better off in the process. A grand Ponzi scheme if ever there was one! Of course, it didn't work and rather and we're now facing the massive problems we see elsewhere in Europe.

If HMG was like New Labour they'd pretend it can all be done painlessly of course. They're doing that now. Criticising cuts but refusing to say who'd really suffer in their hands. The architects of our 'bust' haven't even got the balls to accept the responsibility for what went wrong, let alone deal with it. In their hands the only growth industry would be begging bowls and they'd be made in China.