Douglas Carswell's Blog

A better way to cut the deficit?

The deficit remains stubbornly high.  Not only did HMG have to borrow a record £10 Billion in April, but over the past year, the Coalition government has spent almost 5 percent more each month than happened under the last Labour government.All in all, there has been a stonking 17 percent increase in net public debt since the government took office a year ago.

Perhaps this illustrates the problem of leaving it to government to cut government spending.  Maybe, no executive can be relied upon to curb the largess of the executive.  How often do you suppose Cabinet Ministers demand less spending for their departments?

If we are serious about cutting the amount that government spends, I suggest that we no longer leave it entirely to the Treasury-knows-best approach.  Why not require every minister to appear annually before the relevant select committee of the Commons to plead for the cash, line item by item?  Why not insist that quango chiefs and others get direct approval, before they allocate public money each year?

Giving Commons committees the right to veto departmental and quango spending won't only put downward pressure on public spending.  It might give MPs something worthwhile to do.

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