Government cuts for 2015 announced by George Osborne

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced the cuts that he plans to make in government spending in 2015, the year of the next general election. The Chancellor felt it was necessary to cut £11.5 billion across the various departments of the government as he attempts to reduce the deficit and drag the British economy out of recession.

Mr Osborne seemed to suggest that he felt the British economy was now on the road to recovery, however the threats from the global economy could unravel their hard work if they are not carefully monitored and responded to. The Chancellor said “we have to do with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be, so this country has to continue to make savings,” during his announcement of the spending review in the Houses of Parliament today.

“We’ve made real progress, putting quite what went so badly wrong but while we’ve been acting, challenges from abroad have grown,” said Mr Osborne as he continued to offer the reasons behind his actions. After multiple worse than expected data reports and a fairly substantial decline in tax receipts the cuts are now expected to continue for another five years.

With certain sections of government spending having almost complete immunity from the cuts, such as education and the National Health Service, many had feared that the welfare budget would be slashed. Instead of outright reducing the income of those who need the most help, George Osborne has instead decided that cap on the spending would be more appropriate. He has also decided to implement a new set of requirements for claimants of various benefits. Those who cannot speak English and refused to take a class to improve their communication skills will see their incomes slashed, while all jobseekers will now be required to visit a job centre on a weekly basis, which is twice as much as the current requirement.

The end result of this budget will be a 2.7% decline in government spending when compared to the previous fiscal year, 2014 to 2015.