Beating the vested interests

This is the next of our posts with Reform looking ahead to the Spending Review. Earlier posts were on health, education, the first hundred days, welfare, the Civil Service, international experiences (New Zealand, Canada, Ireland), Hon Ruth Richardson’s recent speech and how to sell the case for cuts.
 
On Thursday, I took part in a spending review debate in West Bromwich, part of a series the BBC held across England (my colleague Patrick Nolan wrote about his experiences in London and the East here) to discover the public’s views on what should be cut or saved in their local area. 
 
I felt a bit of an intruder talking to the local council leaders and regional business people beforehand, explaining that I was from a think tank in London – these people knew what could be cut from the West Midlands’ public services with least damage and where resources should be focused.