Dylan Kneale
On October 20th, the government is to set out its agenda for the Spending Review by outlining where it intends to make £83bn of cuts. In the run up to this, many details of the proposed cuts have been leaked to the media.
Last week, we learned that the higher education cuts were likely to amount to almost two-fifths of the total budget and almost four fifths of the higher education teaching budget. Over the weekend, there were reports that the defence budget would remain relatively unscathed due to the lobbying of the Secretary of State for Defence against cuts to his budget, while further cuts could be expected to the child benefit bill. Benefit cheats are also in the Chancellor’s firing line, although this latter focus is expected to make little difference to offsetting the total deficit.
With Wednesday fast approaching, a new report by the International Longevity Centre (ILC-UK) finds evidence that the cuts are publicly perceived as being unfair, particularly among those beginning their working lives, as well as those entering retirement.
