The public sector now accounts for a fifth of all British workers, and in the last decade almost a million new public sector jobs have been created by Labour. These jobs historically have always come with gold plated final salary pension schemes, creating a huge burden to the taxpayer.
These schemes are in almost all cases far superior to anything in the private sector. In fact the final salary pension has been consigned into the history books for the most part; only 15% of private sector workers are lucky enough to still have one. In the public sector 78% of workers are on defined benefit schemes, which means they know already what pension they’ll get, regardless of market conditions. Public sector pensions equate to approximately 26% of salary every year, so for someone on £30,000 this means an additional £7,800 is contributed into their pension fund.
Deputy-general of the CBI, John Cridland, yesterday waded into this debate. He said that the current black hole was £1trillion and rising, and a report from his organisation suggests that there is a shortfall of £10billion per year.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance have also joined in calls for action. It’s chief executive, Matthew Elliott, said;
“The generous terms of most of these schemes are unsustainable and are placing a stranglehold on public finances. They must be reformed, as ordinary taxpayers face the prospect of picking up the bill.
“Most private pension funds have moved away from final salary schemes but those in the public sector seem to think there is an endless pot of money.”
I agree with all of this.
The pay and conditions in the public sector are certainly a lot better than those in the private sector, particularly in these days of recessions and cutbacks. Many private companies have enforced ten or twenty percent wage cuts on staff, or at the least applied a salary freeze, yet public sector jobs have continued to enjoy a guaranteed pay increase, funded by tax hikes that have hit the very same private employees whose financial means are being cut further and further. Clearly there is a perceived gap opening between the public and private sector in this regard but if the private sector prosperity reduces, the public sector pensions deficit becomes even more unsustainable than it currently is.
It should not be the case that university leavers are all seeking to enter the public sector because of a perception that the streets (and pensions) are paved with gold. The public sector relies on the private. Who else is going to pay for the wages and pensions? Banks?
Unfortunately this scenario is one engineered by Labour. They have increased public sector jobs by 20% in the last decade and they have pushed wages and pensions up for those jobs. All very well if you work for the public sector. If, like me, you don’t, then you can only be dismayed at the constant tax battering we have to endure to fund this politically motivated sector.
It is no wonder private businesses are disappearing and enterprise is stifled. The private sector has been mugged by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown such that it’s lying in the gutter without a gasp of fight left in it. Labour are now determined to accelerate a brain drain, which will only be exacerbated by the higher taxes on the very successful that Lord Mandelson is calling for. Exoduses like this result in the encouragement of immigration. The PC brigade often refer to the “hard working”, taxpaying legal immigrants as the justification for the lack of tough entry requirements into Britain, but these people are only in demand because of a need to displace the natives that have flown the coop.
Labour loves the public sector. It has nurtured state reliance from the kinds of middle class to whom a comfortable civil service job has been provided and a pension gift-wrapped so that when these people hear the Liberal Democrats calling for “savage cuts” and the Conservatives stating that they are ready to start cutting public sector jobs immediately, they might ditch their allegiances in order to save themselves. These people will happily suck up Alistair Darling’s incoming rise in National Insurance if it saves them their jobs.
It is a sad state when political games are played with jobs, but Labour have engineered this over a period of time. State reliance equals Labour voters.
There is some synergy between the jobs argument and the benefits one too. The Conservatives have said benefits will be tackled and people will find themselves tested much more rigorously when applying for certain benefits. They have called for an end to benefits careers. Both of these things have been harboured by Labour, who have set the standard for allowing people to be better off on benefits than actually working.
Just as they love people being employed by the Government, they love people to be reliant on the state for handouts because it creates Labour voters. People are not, after all, going to bite the hand that feeds them (and pays for their lager and Sky Sports).
This is an appalling destruction of the social fabric of Britain. Dave is right, Britain is broken.
Can he fix it? The jury is out. But one thing is for sure: Labour must be voted out at all costs if you want to end reckless spending, end sponging culture, control state reliance and ultimately balance the employment sphere with a focus on equalising the pay and conditions in the private workplace with the public sector.
“We’re fighting this election for the Great Ignored. Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight. They start businesses, operate factories, teach our children, clean the streets, grow our food and keep us healthy - keep us safe.
“They work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law. They’re good, decent people - the people of Britain and they just want a reason to believe that anything is still possible in our country.
“This election is about giving them that reason, giving them that hope. That’s the Conservatives’ mission for the next 30 days and I can’t wait to get started.”
loading…
The elephant in the room no one in Government dares talk about..
But then again it/was is a Labour Government and they rely on public sector and imported (via immigration) votes for their seats on the gravy train.
When Cameron and Brown said this morning this is the most important election in a generation they are not joking..
Whomever gets in next will have to grasp this (and other unsavoury) nettles and there will be considerable strife…. I foresee much higher interest rates, increased unemployment and industrial strike a year or so from now.
What is coming will make the Thatcher years look like a walk in the park.
Whomever gets in will have to strike hard and fast. The Tories will as that’s what they do anyway, Labour as the markets will force them to.
All Labour supporters can blame the idiot that ended boom and bust and allowed house prices to get out of control and ruin the banks and wider economy, whilst at the same time promoting the largest personal and state debt mountains this Country has ever seen.
Bend over everyone.. Its coming and its coming soon, you have had the party now comes the huge hangover!!
Only sitting pretty here looks like Blair and the rest of the pond life that was on the gravy train. They will never have to worry about paying the gas bill or putting food on the table will they.
loading...
Exactly right. This is what happens under Big Government rule.
When Big Government makes even Bigger mistake, all us little people have to pay the penalty.
loading...
As someone who works in the public sector, originally under the tories and now in a unit thats probably going to be privatised, I believe reforms are needed.
If I am asked to pay more towards my pension, fine.I am only on 21k a year, not a massive wage.This whole mess we are in now is down to Gordon Brown and the Bankers,what angers me most is that the bankers are MOST to blame, but they have been let off the hook by a party that preaches fairness but has stuffed the working class;especially the white working class in some parts of the UK.
Before going on about public sector etc,its huge and varied,theres the police,army,civil service,NHS,councils and so on; its NOT all the same, just as much as the private sector isnt all the same.
To dichotomise each entity into 2 distinct homogenous units is facile and misleading.I would like to see a lot of quangos go as well,like the EHRC, NWRDA etc they offer dubious value for money.
But I agree reform is needed.I expect a wage freeze over the next 3 years, ok so be it.
I agree there a large number of dubious jobs,diversity and equality officers are no 1 for me.What I do is a tradeable skill in the private sector: Accounting.Ironically my job involves costing all of this by activity based modelling, LOL LOL LOL.
The problem is that the Fylde is very dependent on the public sector, nail that and the Fylde goes tits up, although relocation from London is one way as well as the use of shared services (my department), to reduce costs.
My missus works in the dole office,a lot of these people are on 18 month contracts and will go anyway, without pensions.
Despite working for the public sector ,I will never vote labour again.I thought that life was better under the tories,it was.This government wastes BILLIONS on private consultants who are total fuckwits instead of dealing with their own staff.I have met some of these idiots and the money they are on is obscene; again its down to bad government.I feel resentment at this as well.
loading...
I thought you would have commented about the huge pay of Steve Weaver in the Gazette, it ties in with public pay etc.
loading...
Hardly any point if you put anything mildly argumentative then some plonk deletes it..
loading...
Thats why Philtheone is the no 1 site to comment on Steve Weavers pay, (which defies belief ),as his pay is simply OBSCENE.
Who determines Wevears pay?
Callows?
loading...
Weaver and his mates of course.
Dressed up as some independent committee or other.
loading...
It is absolutely scandalous how much that jobsworth gets paid. We certainly don’t get value for money. This is the whole problem though Labour has created all these pointless costly quangos and the non-jobs to go with them.
loading...
Already have done an article on it. They’re just reporting the same story, albeit a week or so later.
Here you go:
http://philtheone.com/2010/04/council-exec-awards-himself-bumper-12-pay-rise/
loading...
Cheers Phil, anyone know of any assassins for hire? lol
loading...
Rules for economic survival:
Stay off the radar.
Claim all the benefits you can.
Have a little “earner” that is not too stressful.
Job done.
(oh, and vote Labour, of course).
loading...
You are of course assuming the benefit system will remain as is?
When the politico’s talk of fundamental/radical change they are not joking. If you are able to work you will have to end of, benefit payments will be for those that really need them end of.
New Labour has allowed the system (very much like public sector pensions) to become untenable the Country can simply not afford it going forward.
We as a nation are paying more in interest on the National debt that is spent on either the education or defence budget annually colossal sums and it simply cannot go on.
This is what they mean when they talk about the UK credit status being downgraded where the rest of the World buy UK Government bonds. It is the money from the sale of those bonds that goes to fund the deficit between what we earn and spend and there is a huge imbalance.
The catalyst is this coming election, everyone knows there must be pain following on from it and it will take a strong Government to drive through the unpopular cuts that must indeed have to come.
Which is why a hung parliament is being touted as a disaster as it means no strong Government unable to take the unpopular decisions = loss of confidence from overseas bond buyers = higher interest rates = house price and economic crash of biblical proportions = Creditworthyness downgrade on the International markets = unemployment through the roof= a little unhappiness all round.
Lets not forget there is also £200 Billion of inflationary printed money sloshing about in the system which is waiting to come back and bite us on the arse.
Today’s problems all stem from Brown’s inability/unwillingness when he was chancellor to regulate the financial markets properly. He truly was deluded enough to beleive his own mantra that he had ended boom and bust.
Vote Labour? As a life long trade unionist it saddens me to say I would rather stick pins in my eyes.
loading...
Would you say it was a scorched earth policy, or just shockingly inept financial management?
loading...
Good question,the 2 concepts are hard to distinguish, except for motive.
Although the do gooder motive is probably the most destructive motive there is?
why?
Becuase these PC fruitcakes never see the bad in the “good” they do.
loading...
I agree I will never vote labour again, when I think of my ex mate who gets £300 a week for doing nothing,it makes me seethe with unfettered hatred.
loading...
That’s approximately what I get in Benefits but then I get off my backside and go out and double it with a bit of “cash in hand” work. I’ve got no sympathy for lazy dossers who just want to live on Benefits alone.
loading...
I smell a troll.
Don’t suppose you want to break that down then comrade?
Didn’t think so!!
loading...
£285 Benefits.
£200 – £300 via car booting and DVD sales.
loading...
How are you able to do this from Benidorm though?
loading...
Got Me!
loading...
You misunderstood my question mate..
The £285 how much is JSA, child benefit, other stuff exactly?
loading...
lol great entertainment! we need cheering up!
loading...