Dear Treasury Permanent Secretary,
Good news: the nightmare is over. We both know that Gordon Brown is one of the greatest economic vandals ever to have resided in Downing Street. And to make Britain competitive again will require hard work. We can start immediately, and without the need for legislation. I’d like the following to be in place by the end of our first 100 days.
1) Please draw up plans for a two-year public sector pay freeze, and for a few billion pounds worth of immediate cuts. Rather than trimming spending across all departments, I’d like to axe entire programmes. These will include Sure Start, which would save £1.4 billion a year, and the NHS national programme for IT, saving £1.2 billion. The markets are watching us anxiously. We need to demonstrate intent. This will all be met by rage from the unions — but we may as well get on with these tense relations.
2) The Treasury has long used a strange way of calculating tax.
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