British cutbacks - Public sector reform must show results

British plans to cut 490,000 public sector jobs as part a programme of sweeping spending cuts should be a warning to the public sector in this country, where we have often looked to the welfare state pioneered in Britain as a model to be emulated.

The main unions, IMPACT and SIPTU, secured widespread support for the Croke Park deal, which was negotiated by senior trade union officials and Government trouble-shooters earlier this year. It set out plans for a pay freeze until 2014 in order to avoid compulsory redundancies, but it put an onus on the public sector of securing reforms that would cut costs.

Over the past couple of years, there have been horror stories of enormous bureaucratic waste and extravagance. If such abuses were eradicated, savings could be used to protect jobs and ensure that the pain that will have to be endured by all segments of society could be minimised.