Fortnightly Herald Express Article

From a Torbay perspective I think the Coalition Government has made a good start when prioritising spending commitments. 

Cutting taxes for the low paid will help everyone in work or currently paying tax on their income in Torbay.  The extra pounds in peoples pockets are likely to be spent locally thus helping our economy to grow.

Same is true for restoring the pension link with earnings given the number of pensioners locally.  Easing the burden on their finances will help our local economy more than most.

The Pupil Premium will target resources at schools in areas like our own helping to reduce class sizes and offer more one to one support and ensure our youngest get the best start in life.

But there are going to be cuts, unavoidable when the country is borrowing an extra £3 billion a week to meet the spending commitments left by the last government.

It’s a bit like having taken over a property where the previous occupant had left all the lights and taps on before vacating the premises.  Turning things off without creating total darkness or cutting off the water supply was always going to be the most difficult task for whoever formed the next Government.

That’s why any new spending commitments are going to have to be subjected to a review, including those that to us are self-evidently beneficial.

We have had spending reviews before and they have often appeared to me to be simply mechanisms for delaying expenditure that was going to have to be made anyway.  I hope the outcome for proposals we want in South Devon will simply be a short wait before approval, but the approach the Coalition is taking is very different from the past.

Firstly by suggesting an unprecedented public consultation exercise asking what people expect from public services and where they think cuts should fall.

Secondly through a re-evaluation of the relationship between government and the public sector

Finally by creating a new ‘Star Chamber’ of Cabinet ministers to vet every department’s spending proposals.

Quite how that affects any objective decision making over the cost/benefit analysis for the South Devon Link Road is anyone’s guess.  But I’ll wager it will score well given the amount of work Devon and Torbay have put into the business case for the road. 

The delays, such as the de-trunking of the A380, regionalisation, and national rule changes have been beyond our control.  The slippage from choosing unitary status and changing to an elected Mayor was self-inflicted.  Now it’s down to the facts and figures making the case.  It’s no longer if, but when.