16, April
Lee Hurst: The only thing that will save us…
The only thing that will save us financially in the UK is cuts. The government needs to stop spending. Start with a recruitment freeze. For every three people who quit or retire you are allowed to hire one person. This immediately allows the public sector to shrink in a managed way. As you hire new staff, they will not be allowed a public sector pension. They will only be allowed a private one if they choose to take one out. This immediately starts to shrink the cost of the public sector pension bill in a managed way. Non jobs that provide no worth to the public will be ended and the staff relocated within the public sector on the same pay to roles that are needed. Using the above template, you will not have to make anyone redundant. You will just shrink the public sector until we end up with one we can actually afford doing what we actually need. Alongside this you encourage investment in the private sector to create jobs that add worth to our economy and society. Social Housing apartments can be built which can then have a degree of rent control thus reducing the benefits bill by reducing the rents the taxpayer is forced to cover at the same time as reducing benefits payments in general by putting people back to work. The apartments will also provide a guaranteed safe, stable return for the investors. None of the above is sexy or fabulous. It’s not an entertaining post. In fact it is very boring, but it is full of ideas that we need to consider. What’s your idea?