Oh heck … Bloated public sector is damaging economy, warns Andrew Bailey.

Oh, and Mr Bailey did not use the word "bloated": that was added by The Telegraph's journalist.

Teachers are public sector employees, also.
Do we want to educate the next generation, or not?

How refreshing to read so many posts in this thread that I totally agree with.

Unfortunately some people in this country don't understand that public expenditure pays for their public services and that most of Thatcher's privatisations - whilst presented as a great gift to British taxpayers at the time - were a disaster, enriching incompetent CEOs and syphoning British utilities bill payers' money into the hands of foreign shareholders who care only about the size of their next dividend whilst we can't swim in our own seas and rivers because of lack of funding to prevent pollution by sewage spills.

I am not claiming that all public sector organisations are 100% efficient but you only have to watch episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are" to learn that in the last century and the one before that poor people lucky if they lived in a slum to avoid homelessness were carted off to workhouses before the introduction of the welfare state and the NHS where many died.

Do we prefer to have that kind of public squalor again so that we can have a few tax cuts?

Starmer & Co. are far from perfect but IMHO it would be even worse to be ruled by the previous lot or by the oligarchs as in the US.

of cuts

Two hours ago it appears by a pundit in the Telegraph, straight to an O/P in GN.

Yes, lets appoint a crazy multi billionaire and sack key staff administering huge chunks go cuts without any planning done as to how, where, consequences, ensuring vital services continue.

Bloated bankers???

Tell you what, we could privatise all our public services and then they could be as efficient as Thames Water.

Ilovecheese

Yup, let's sack a load of public servants and give them Universal Credit instead, that will really help the economy!!!

That's surely what's going to happen to the USA Aid workers. 10,000 skilled, motivated and experienced staff out of work in a month.

Yup, let's sack a load of public servants and give them Universal Credit instead, that will really help the economy!!!

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9224/

Ilovecheese

The main thing holding back growth is having too many doctors and nurses?

????

Bloated public sector?? How about the private fuel and water companies creaming off our hard earned money with their shareholder dividends and bonuses??

Can I have a fact check on this please?

And who is the public sector for anyway? The Public. Us. Tax the billionaires.

No, we don't want a Nazi supporting, unelected, sociopath anywhere near Westminster.

The Tories had 14 years to develop a long term plan that would ready the country for the future and yet they systematically undermined everything in order to keep taxes low and the rich even richer.

To those calling for a UK Doge I would ask who is going to want to live in this world without public services? A world where the poor, young and sick aren't cared for and the environment is destroyed. It will be interesting to see how life develops in the USA over the next years before we start wishing for what they now have coming to them.

I would rather just pay more tax and live in a better world. Why doesn't someone have the balls to do that?

AI is saying £15 Billion.

The main thing holding back growth is having too many doctors and nurses?

staff is approx 17,200 people.

petra

Fancythat
The US overseas budget is $40 Billion.
The UK overseas budget is approx. £14 Million.

Good gosh about the first one.

Uk is only £14 million? That wouldnt pay for more than about 30 staff.

Ooops chancellor

Barleyfields

We need a chancellor with a brain!

She has a brain and a good education.

I seem to remember a major economic disaster not so long ago which had far reaching effects, now the was a Chancelor with no brain!

Cutting public services is not the way forward. Having said that almost every CS dept has been told to make cuts, similar to when the Tories came in with austerity. Freeze on most recruitment too.

Fancythat
The US overseas budget is $40 Billion.
The UK overseas budget is approx. £14 Million.

We need a chancellor with a brain!

Sounds like we need a UK branch of DOGE!