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- Thursday 02 September 2010
- 19:23
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Insider Research
Understanding the heart of Westminster
Friday 9th October 2009 | 13:52
Big government attack: the start of an ideological argument for cuts?
Three quarters of political insiders took Cameron's emphasis on 'big government' to be the start of a new ideological argument for spending cuts
Until yesterday, the official Conservative message on spending cuts was one of reluctant necessity.
Until last year, David Cameron had chosen to match Labour's spending plans and he only retreated from this position at the time of the financial crisis. The impression given was that the Conservatives were content to continue with the state in roughly its current size in spending terms, sharing the proceeds of growth between investment in public services and tax cuts. The shift in position over the past year was put down to the dire state of the public finances, which made painful decisions on spending unavoidable.
Yesterday however in David Cameron's speech to party conference, the phrase 'big government' appeared fourteen times. This was a crucial new emphasis, for the first time making explicit the idea that the problems of the past ten years derive from an oversized state.
Its corollary is that a smaller state would have been preferable, and it has been taken as the start of a new, ideological, argument for spending cuts. The theme has been well received by Conservative commentators, but will no doubt please Peter Mandelson, who accused the Tories in his conference speech of a "barely disguised glee" at the prospect of spending cuts.
73% of political insiders - as measured by the Phi100 panel of MPs and peers, journalists and thought leaders in think tanks and universities - thought David Cameron's emphasis was preparing the way for an ideological argument for spending cuts:
Strong majorities of all parties, including nonaligned observers, concluded the same.
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