The Politics of Public Spending, Equality and Hope
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905816680419 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Author | Danny Dorling |
32 POLITICAL INSIGHT • DECEMBER 2016
In October 2016, at her party’s annual
Conference, Prime Minister Theresa May
set out a vision for a more inclusive
Britain, at least for those who would still
have a right to freely work in the UK. She
promised many things, but what she did not
mention was what makes Britain different
from almost every other affluent country in
Europe – how little we spend on the one
thing we all share, our public services. A
kinder, more inclusive politics would aim to
raise our share of public spending on state
education, public health and housing to
at least what was the average for the more
inclusive Europe countries are nearest to us
The government that came to power in
2010 in the UK chose to try to spend a lower
proportion of GDP on the public good than
almost any other government in Europe. At
one point it was even forecast to spend less
than the US. It did not manage to do that,
because UK debt repayments are too high,
which are included in government spending.
But The UK remains on course to cut public
The Politics of
Public Spending,
Equality and Hope
The UK government says it wants a kinder, more inclusive politics but
also plans to cut public spending to record lows. Danny Dorling argues
that the only way to a new politics is through public investment,
taxation and changes in our voting system.
spending to record lows. The Conservative
government elected in 2015 clearly aims
to get close to being that internationally
minimal public provider by 2020. So how do
we compare to our European neighbours
when it comes to public spending and
performance on housing, education and
health?
A Place Apart
Figure 1 shows how government spending
rose rapidly, but differentially in different
European countries to bail out the financial
sector during the 2007-2013 financial crash.
In 2016 public spending has often been
higher than it was before the crash, partly
due to debt repayments but also because
public spending has to rise as a proportion
of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to avoid
making cuts when GDP falls. The lines on
the graph slope downwards into the future
because government tell the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) they plan to spend
less in future. They do this because it is
what the IMF likes to hear.
The gure also illustrates just how wide the
range of choices are that auent countries
make in terms of public spending levels,
and that range is set to become wider still
by 2020. Some countries choose to tax
and spend more collectively rather than
individually. These tend to be the more
economically equitable countries, such as
Finland, France and Denmark. In contrast, the
more unequal English-speaking countries,
including Ireland and the US, stand out as
being (or becoming) the lowest taxers and
spenders.
According to these World Economic
Outlook gures, produced annually by the
Political Insight December 2016.indd 32 31/10/2016 14:28
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