Cuts will not save money fast enough 

It is plain that the public purse needs a swift injection of cash. The question is where it will come from. Daniel Finkelstein’s column in this morning’s Times argues that the proposed Tory cuts and public service reform will save money in the long-term, but not immediately. He cites Peter Lilley’s 1995 pension reforms – the benefits of which the spendthrift Brown government is about to enjoy:

‘The Tories decided to equalise the state pension age at 65. This meant raising the female pension age from 60. But such a policy threatened to be very unpopular, disappointing the legitimate expectations of women approaching the existing retirement age.   Lilley ensured that no woman born before April 1950 would be affected by it. The change from 60 to 65 would be phased in, starting in 2010 and being completed only in 2020.’