Cutting government expnditure

G.Brown lied when he said his government would not cut expenditure, unless his present cutting will miraculously come to an end. The government is already cutting costs in many areas.

The latest cut is in higher education, where the government has imposed a cap of 10,00 on the number of additional places available.

This is at a time when universities are expecting a surge in applications, especially from those who might otherwise have been in the labour market but can find no job in the recession. The number of British candidates is up by 8.8% and the number of European applications up by 16.4%.

A sad British result is likely. As our education system fails to provide students of the same quality as in most of the rest of Europe, the conclusion is that many British students will be unsuccessful in finding a place at university, - they will be "crowded out". As many as 80,000 applicants will be unsuccessful, and a large number of these are likely to be British as universities are not permitted to discriminate against those from abroad, in fees or loans.