'Cut 109,000 civil servants, Scots told' read a headline in yesterday's Sunday Times followed by a sub heading claiming that 'think tanks says widescale redundancies would save money and boost ailing services'.
Not for the first time Reform, the intellectual wing of the Taxpayers Alliance, has captured headlines with its flawed diagnosis and cure for the UK public sector. Its proposterous call - for 1m job cuts across the UK including more than 100,000 Scottish public sector jobs, including frontline workers such as nurses, teachers and police - must not go unchallenged.
“Contrary to what the prime minister, the chancellor and the leader of the opposition would have us believe, reducing the deficit and reforming the public sector means tackling the front line above all. Reform’s proposals would take UK public sector employment back to the levels of 1999, when the recent period of spending increases began" claims Reform.
In the Sunday Times report UNISON gave a bold response to the hare brained proposals “What possible merit could there be in putting another 1m people on the job queue? We know that for every pound a local government worker earns, 73 pence goes straight back into the local economy. That’s keeping local shops and businesses going, and is desperately needed.”
So too did a spokesperson for the SNP led Scottish Government:
“The Scottish government’s draft budget promotes economic growth and protects frontline services. It rightly guarantees real-terms increases in spending on health, education and justice next year, despite the real-terms cut in our overall budget because of Westminster decisions. We are delivering a bold and robust programme.”
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article6962708.ece
