"Cutting Waste" Gimmick Is Meaningless Without Tough Choices Says Cable

4.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Jul 2004

Vincent Cable MP for Twickenham

The one-upmanship between Labour and the Conservatives to make vast cutbacks in civil service numbers could lead to a deterioration in public services, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable warned today.

Speaking ahead of the Chancellor's three year spending review due next week, and commenting on Conservative plans to make swingeing cutbacks to the NHS, Dr Cable said: "Of course the Liberal Democrats support reducing waste and improve efficiency. We support the principles behind Sir Peter Gershon's review of public services and look forward to these being implemented, even if this involves some job losses.

"However, most commercial companies recognise that the people who work for them are their most valuable assets. The best companies value their staff, but are rigorous in deciding what goods and services they provide. It is better to do a smaller number of things well, than to do a larger number of things badly. That is what brings commercial success.

"The same principle is true in Government. My worry about Labour and the Conservatives' recent obsession with cutting waste, is that their solution is to simply cut back on numbers of public servants. Surely it is better to decide what services the Government should and should not provide and then decide civil service numbers accordingly. That is the Liberal Democrat approach.

"The tough choice for politicians is to decide which bits of Government activity should be stopped in favour of more urgent priorities. Under previous Government reorganisations, Ministers have simply requested a 5, 10 or 20 per cent cut across the board in each department's staff numbers. As there are proportionately more lower paid staff working in front line jobs, there are proportionately more cuts in these areas.

"It is not too difficult to imagine the impact of an arbitrary decision to cut DWP employees, for example. Unless the Government simplifies the benefit system and reduces means testing - of which there is no sign - the inevitable consequence will be longer waits in benefits offices, even longer delays in answering the phone and even more mistakes.

"Cutting back on 'waste' in this way could actually be counter-productive and result in poorer public services."