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The 2015 Budget and Spending Review: An IFS and IfG background briefing

The Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Institute for Government teamed up for a briefing on the Budget and Spending Review.

As the Chancellor prepares for the Spending Review, attention turns to the decisions the new government needs to take about future taxation and spending if it is to meet its pledge to eliminate the deficit by the end of this parliament. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Institute for Government (IfG) teamed up to offer media, commentators and policymakers a background briefing to explore the issues for government in the Budget and Spending Review. We also looked back over the parliament since 2010 to examine the extent to which the last government’s plans were met, and ahead to the spending squeeze that is planned to continue.

Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the IFS, and Julian McCrae, Deputy Director of the IfG, discussed:

• Given the Government’s stated objectives for deficit reduction the trade-off between social security cuts, tax rises and departmental spending cuts;

• What ringfencing certain budgets from cuts means for the unprotected departments;

• The latest data on departmental cuts and spending since 2010, and how different departments are coping;

• The potential length and depth of the austerity measures to come under the new government, and a comparison of the UK’s progress with other countries’ experiences of fiscal consolidation;

• How the coming Spending Review fits with wider processes for planning and managing the public purse; and

• How to tell if the Budget and Spending Review are producing credible numbers that the government will be able to stick to.

This event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Programme Director, Institute for Government.

Read our event blog and our briefing note on preparing for the spending review.

 

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