UK coalition to adopt fiscal cuts

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127518§ionid=351020601


UK`s new coalition government will slash public spending by £ 6.0 billion as parts of its scheme to rein in the bloated budget deficit of £ 156.1 billion.

The details of the blueprint by Liberal Democrats and the Conservative coalition will be formally announced on Monday and, according to the Sunday Times newspaper, Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will have to shoulder the hefty burden of the initial cuts, which has been estimated at £900 million.

"Tomorrow we're setting out where we'll make six billion pounds worth of savings -- and every day after that we will make sure that the most vulnerable in society are protected from cuts," claimed the new Prime Minister David Cameron, quoted by the popular tabloid News of the World.

The move comes as the UK is grappling with the deepest recession in 60 years and the budget deficit has soared to £156.1 billion between 2009 and 2010, equivalent to 11.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

According to the plans, budgets of advisory bodies as well as civil servant benefits such as flights and taxis and hotel facilities will also be shrunk in a bid to save £513 million.

Treasury Minister David Laws, meanwhile, said that the country faces an "age of austerity".

The government has also envisaged plans to slash between 300,000 and 700,000 public sector jobs in years to come.