Freeze State Pensions and Slash Non-frontline’ NHS and Schools Staff, Said No 10’s Economic Adviser

THE OBSERVER: Radical ideas to reduce spending, outlined in Matthew Sinclair’s 2010 handbook, may now be needed by the Tories to pay for their tax cuts

Matthew Sinclair’s book backed a one-year freeze in basic state pension and the minimum income guarantee. Photograph: Twitter
Liz Truss’s top economic adviser suggested freezing the state pension, halving the government’s publicity budget and slashing “non-frontline” staff in health and schools by 10%, as part of a manifesto designed to win an election while also cutting spending.

Matthew Sinclair, the former chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, edited a book by the small-state pressure group that called for a series of radical cuts, including the scrapping of the Prevent programme designed to tackle extremism.

The book published in 2010, How to Cut Public Spending (and Still Win an Election), is now out of print. However, with Truss needing to find billions in cuts just 18 months before the likely next election date, some of the radical spending cut ideas may be needed. » | Michael Savage, Policy editor | Saturday, October 8, 2022

Who, pray tell, is this miserable, nasty sonofabitch? Another bloody Tory nonentity, I guess. Are these damn Tories trying to stoke a revolution, or what? – © Mark Alexander