“Treasury speak” is a branch of English spoken by just a handful of ministers and civil servants, and understood by even fewer. It is a world where “efficiencies” means “cuts”, “investment” means “spending” and the “long-term” is anything greater than five years out.
As junior doctors embark on the biggest strike in NHS history in a bitter dispute over pay, a week after teachers walked out, the Government appears set for more finance ministry arbitrage. To end the chaos, the Chancellor may now meet the recommendations of the pay review bodies, which for teachers represents a 6.5 per cent rise.
This would, of course, need to be paid for and none of the options are particularly enticing. The Government could borrow more, but this risks fuelling inflation and further weakening public finances. Taxes could be raised, but Tory MPs want tax cuts. Therefore, it seems, public-sector pay rises will be funded from “existing budgets”. In other words, cuts would have to be found. This is no easy task given the already parlous state of schools and the NHS.
In the absence of an economic recovery worthy of the name, cash can only come from more borrowing, higher taxes or cuts. These are what the Treasury call “difficult decisions” and others will know as “going without”.
Real threat of China
The Government is failing to counter Chinese state interference in Britain. That’s the excoriating conclusion of a report from Parliament’s intelligence and security committee. From universities to the nuclear sector, the report denounced the Government’s “completely inadequate” response to a Chinese Communist Party which risked an “existential threat to liberal democratic systems”.
Last July, MI5 announced that it would double its investigations into China in the face of the “game-changing” threat posed. Clearly, far more substantive changes are required. Trade with China remains key to Britain and the global economy. Yet we must be clear-eyed over illegality, threats and espionage, which are likely only to intensify in the coming years and decades.
Elina the incredible
This year’s Wimbledon marked the return of Russian and Belarusian players, but it has been Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina who has taken the tournament by storm.
The 28-year-old gave birth in October and only returned to professional tennis three months ago hoping, she said, to “bring a little happiness” to the people of Ukraine. Win or lose from this point on, she has certainly done that.
