Romseyredhead

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Shadow Cabinet 2

Interesting meeting this morning. Vince Cable and David Laws had been going over the James Report with a fine toothcomb. They were outlining some of the areas where there seemed to be an element of double accounting or even claiming that the savings made were larger than the running costs of the actual department/organisation being cut. David Laws pointed out that of all the money that was supposedly being "saved" the largest chunk had been ear-marked for redundancy payments. Hm, now remind me. What was unemployment like when the Conservatives were last in power?
Vince's favourite Tory "nutty idea" was the one espoused by "Two Brains" David Willetts who was claiming potential savings by scaling down Jobcentre Plus and running it on volunteers. Well - with all those people made redundant they will have plenty of time on their hands won't they but I somehow can't see "being a volunteer for Jobcentre Plus" being top of people's wish.