Reaction to Britain’s public spending squeeze might force strategy change

THE pain of Britain’s forthcoming spending squeeze — the most sustained of its kind since WWII — may yet force the government to rethink its strategy, the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies told Reuters.

Carl Emmerson, acting director of the independent think-tank, said that while the impact of tax rises and welfare cuts was relatively easy to quantify, the impact of public service cuts — and the public’s reaction to them — was much less certain.

“The government is taking such big sums out of public spending there has to be a risk that one or two years down the line it decides the pain is too great and a plan B, or even a plan C is needed,” Emmerson said.