Britain’s most senior civil servant, Sir Jeremy Heywood, has stressed that the British government would continue with its austerity measures until 2020, with only 25% of the necessary spending cuts having been implemented by now.
Heywood, appointed cabinet secretary last year by British Prime Minister David Cameron, made the comments at an event held by the Institute for Government (IFG).
“We are 25% through fiscal adjustment. Spending cuts could last seven, eight, 10 years”, Heywood was quoted by The Daily Telegraph.
Britain’s coalition government began to cut public spending soon after it took office in 2010. The goal was to eliminate the country’s record peacetime structural budget deficit by 2015.
British Chancellor George Osborne has already admitted that British people could face spending cuts for at least two years into the next parliament. However, this time, the continuation of spending cuts throughout the next parliament is officially confirmed.
Nevertheless, The Information Daily reported that despite the austerity measures, there has been a 4% hike in the debts share of the national GDP, standing at 76%.
The European Commission has predicted that Britain’s Maastricht treaty deficit, the standard European Union measure of borrowing, would reach 6.5% of GDP in 2013, the third highest in the EU.
ISH/JR/HE
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