Making Cuts: Are We In Danger of Self-Harming

On Monday this week Newsnight ran a report on 'Where does the public think the axe should fall?'. I watched in horror as desperate members of the public volunteered to wield the axe. It was like watching a group of self-harmers up close and live.

This citizen's jury was rounded up by the renowned consultancy firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers to find out, ahead of the coalition government's Spending Review in October, where the public think the cuts should be made.

The first blow was foreign aid. We should not be ring-fencing foreign aid, said this jury. We need to look after our own at a time like this. Nothing was sacred - certainly not the holy cow of universal welfare benefits and that fatted calf of job seekers allowance meant to feed those workless scroungers must be put on half rations.

Should we be surprised by this response? Not really. When David Cameron and Nick Clegg insist that reducing the deficit 'is the most important issue facing Britain' and no-one disagrees then our citizen's jury are rather like hapless survivors on a sinking ship with a pessimistic captain at the helm, desperately deciding who should be saved and who should be allowed to go under.

All over the country, people are making special cases for their service to be saved. Of course we agree that cuts should be made, they say, but not our hospital – it’s essential. Not our pensioners’ community centre – where would they go? Not this facility for our youth – do you want them hanging about on your street with no future? The louder they shout, the more likely they are to be heard; and certainly, the government have caved in to strong local protest groups. Better fight than not, then; but this approach can’t save us all and tends to be divisive – pitting one beleaguered community against another and allowing the government to lower our horizons and buckle under the weight of the budget deficit.

I think this focus must be reversed if we are to save ourselves and stop self-harming. If our only view of the British economy is one of a sinking ship then we are all losers.

We need to focus on economic growth, not the budget deficit. How can we grow the British economy? What ideas do the coalition government have about that? What new sectors have they targeted for investment and development that will create the jobs we all need? They need to think big not small, local and limited.

Big Potatoes is the manifesto of a group who do believe in innovation and growth and thinking big. Be bold. Pick up a copy and chuck the axe away.