Put it in your diaries now !
Last week I was at a policy wonks’ dinner and a very senior economist made the salient point that the 20th October 2010, will be the most significant date in the UK’s economic calendar for many years to come. He argued that it will set the tone for all debate on public spending and the size of the state for well beyond the life of the coalition and it’s hard to disagree.
Few then will envy the Chancellor, George Osborne his job when he presents the CSR to Parliament.
A range of opinion polls suggests it’s going to be very difficult to sell the CSR to the public who are used to an ever-expanding state. And not least because voters seem unaware for all the ongoing media coverage of “cuts”, as John Redwood MP has pointed out many, many times to an unlistening world, expenditure is still rising and forecast to keep doing so, from £600 bn in FY 2009/1 to £693 bn in FY 2014/15.