Cuts will be required, admits Brown

12 April 2012

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said for the first time that Labour will be ready to impose cuts in spending once the recession is over.

But the Prime Minister told the TUC he would protect frontline public services and accused the Conservatives of planning "across the board public spending cuts" to fund tax breaks for the rich.

Mr Brown's announcement marks a significant shift in Labour strategy after months in which he had sought to characterise the forthcoming general election as a choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts.

Speaking to the TUC annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Brown said: "Labour will cut costs, cut inefficiencies, cut unnecessary programmes and cut lower priority budgets. But when our plans are published in the coming months people will see that Labour will not support cuts in the vital frontline services on which people depend."

He added: "The choice is between Labour who will not put the recovery at risk, protect and improve your frontline services first and make the right choices for low- and middle-income families in the country.

"And a Conservative Party which would reduce public services at the very time they are needed most, make across-the-board public spending cuts to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest few, and make different choices about public services because they have different values.

"These would be the wrong choices at the wrong time for the wrong reasons because they have the wrong priorities for Britain."

Mr Brown had previously stressed the role of growth, asset sales and efficiency improvements in achieving Chancellor Alistair Darling's target of halving the £175 billion deficit within four years of the end of the recession.

The PM's reluctance to discuss the need for spending reductions has led to press reports that the word "cuts" had become taboo at 10 Downing Street. But his spokesman this morning played down the significance of Mr Brown's use of the word, insisting he had made clear many times over the past few months that "tough choices" would be required in the coming period.