Downing Street Says » Leaked Treasury document on departmental spending

Asked whether he could confirm details of a document which said that departmental spending would be cut by 9.3 per cent, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that he would not comment on leaked documents, but that departmental budgets for the years after 2010/11 had not been set.

Asked how the figure of 9.3 per cent squared with the Prime Minister’s comments in the House of Commons that only the Opposition planned to cut by ten per cent, the PMS said that the Chancellor would return to this at the Pre Budget Report (PBR) and the Budget. The Government was only part way into the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) and there remained uncertainties about the global and British economy, which made it difficult to make further predictions. The Government was entering a very different public spending climate.

Asked if the Prime Minister was engaged in a cover-up when he talked about the Opposition’s plan for ten per cent cuts, the PMS said departmental budgets for the years after 2010/11 had not been set because the uncertainties of the current financial climate. There were no plans beyond the current spending review period.

Asked how he responded to Opposition’s accusation that the Prime Minister misled Parliament, the PMS said that that was a very serious allegation. There were no plans beyond the current spending review period. The Government would return to this at the PBR. The Prime Minister had said it would be wrong to have a spending review at this stage.

Asked again if the Prime Minister would deny misleading Parliament, the PMS said that the Prime Minister would never mislead Parliament. The Prime Minister had been consistent in what he had said about the spending review and the implications of the spending review. He set out the parameters in which any decision would be made in his speech to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) yesterday.

Asked if there were embryonic plans for cuts of 9.3 per cent that were dumped the day before the Budget, the PMS said that there were plenty of assumptions that were made by the Treasury on different scenarios.

Asked if departmental cuts could be higher than suggested in the document and if, following his speech to the TUC, the Prime Minister was acknowledging that there would be significant departmental spending cuts, the PMS said he was not suggesting that. No plans beyond the current spending period had been made. Decisions would be made at the right time.

Asked if the Government was disowning the document, the PMS said he would not comment on the specific document, but there would be plenty of documents with a number of assumptions attached to them. He was trying to give a sense of what decisions would be made and when, in relation to departmental budgets.

Asked if the Prime Minister still stood by the statement he gave to the House of Commons when he said the Conservatives were ideologically committed to ten per cent cuts in public services and he was not, the PMS said the Prime Minister made his position on public expenditure clear yesterday at the TUC. There was a need to cut costs in a number of different areas.

Asked if the Prime Minister believed he could cut the deficit by cutting spending alone, the PMS said the Prime Minister had a number of thoughts about this. When the right time came, which would be around the time of the PBR, we would set out our thinking.

Asked if there was concern that Downing Street could appear to be covering-up, the PMS said he did not know how Downing Street or the Prime minister could be accused of covering-up; it was a leaked document.

Asked if a mole hunt had been launched at the Treasury, the PMS said people should speak to the Treasury about the document and what they planned to do about the leak.

Asked if the document revealed why the Government decided not to have a spending review, the PMS said the Government had always made clear that at the right time it would make the appropriate announcements about spending. This would be in or around the time of the PBR.

Asked if there would be a CSR in the PBR, the PMS said that the CSR was a decision for the Chancellor.

Put that the Prime Minister could be called Mr ten per cent’, the PMS said that the Prime Minister could be called a leader who was focused on getting ready for the international conference in America next week and leading discussions on global economic matters.

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» Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Leaked Treasury document on departmental spending

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