Waste

Whenever the Conservatives propose new spending, the retort is always "This is not costed" or "How will you pay for this?"

I leave aside the fact that the present Government has regularly failed to anticipate costs, - for the military, to cover the disastrous removal of the 10p tax band, the cost of the Olympic Games in 2012, etc.

Instead I refer to David Craig's tour-de-force "Squandered", where he reveals the huge amount of money squandered by New Labour since they came to power. There has been waste on a truly astronomical scale, whether it is in buying helicopters for the military which can fly only in daylight and so long as there is no fog, vast sums spent in consultancy fees, fraud in benefits, or in IT schemes which had had massive delay and cost overrun. As an example of the last, recently the second of the contractors involved in the NHS supercomputer, Fujitsu, followed Accenture two years before, and withdrew, claiming that the scheme is not workable. Four years behind, and with a final bill likely to be at least £14 billion, or six times the estimate at outset, the consultant contractors are probably right.

Such massive, misguided schemes are the big examples of waste. But there are smaller ones which go almost unnoticed, except for the eagle eyes of researchers. Recently the Daily Mail pointed out that the British Council, a state funded quango, had spent £50,000 in having its own distinctive type face or font developed, having already spent some £85,000 on a new Logo.

All this was to establish the "identity" of the Council, which has been in existence since 1934.

Vantage West Midlands, the crypto regional government in waiting as it gathers more and more powers, also recently came under criticism for spending £6 million on its palatial new head offices. Did they have an identity crisis as well?

The thousand or so quangos behave like all bureaucrats, somehow finding money to enhance their own prestige, by acquiring premises, powers, staff, and indications of professional prestige.

Please read David Craig's book, but you may need a stiff drink with you as you do. The sheer incompetence and waste is mind blowing. Even where his figures are best guesses that he can make, if he has accidentally doubled the figure for waste the sums squandered are still frightening.

NuLabour and the Conservatives a few years ago each estimated possible savings - Gershon and James. It now seems that their estimates were too conservative and timid. There really is great scope for any government willing to face down vested interests to finance new areas of spending, or to reduce taxes, without cutting important services. To claim otherwise is to behave like an ostrich burying its head.