David Cameron’s neatly-constructed article in the Sunday Times (£) perfectly typifies the balancing act he is performing ahead
of this autumn’s Spending Review. The Prime Minister has to sound tough on the deficit because, thanks to the fiscal brinksmanship of one G. Brown, that’s the job he has been appointed to do. But
he doesn’t want to come across as sadistic or gloomy, lest it alienate voters and coalition partners alike. The edges of the cuts need to be rounded off, made more presentable.
To that end, Cameron suggests first that the cuts aren’t ideological. There are, he says, items of spending that he’d like to keep – but wider budget constraints mean that he can’t. Or as he puts it, “In government we’ve made [this] decision on some benefits, such as tax credits, for families in the middle income bracket.
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