Budget-conscious Britons make most of reprieve

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 8

Budget-conscious Britons make most of reprieve

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NZPA-Reuter London Ihe multi-million-dollar sums contained in Britain’s latest economy Budget were painfully translated by the work-force yesterday into the extra pounds and pennies they must now pay to support their families, but housewives went about their Christmas shopping as if making the most of their reprieve before the restrictive measures bite.

At first sight, Mr Denis Healey’s Budget hit workers with a 10 per cent rise after Christmas in their traditional luxuries of beer and cigarettes, but the consequences run much deeper, cutting into family budgets because of the lifting then of Government food subsidies which the public had come to take for granted and probably knew little about.

This is only part of the! price Britons are being! asked to pay for securing a SUS3.9OOM International! Monetary Fund loan to boost the country’s dwindling coffers: The Chancellor! of the Exchequer’s axe on Government spending also: means, among other things,: that hospital services, hous-. ing and education projects? and motorway building will! be curtailed. Mr Healey made it clear that the cuts must lead to greater unemployment, which means more families dipping into savings and more on social welfare. The British Medical Association says that it is difficult to see how the cuts can fail to affect the care of patients. And so the cost to Britons of the country’s financial stability will be felt both in their pockets and in their wellbeing: but the view of the man-in-the-street, accustomed to regularly harsh Budgets, is that this one could have been far worse: the rate of income tax re- 1

mains unchanged, and the accent appears to be on having a Merry Christmas before the cost is counted. Unions’ warning The trade union leaders have denounced the new 1 economic sacrifices imposed i by the Labour Government,) but have agreed to carry on! with their pledges of wagel restraint The leaders of the Trades Union Congress levelled bitter criticism at the E2.500M cuts in Goverment spending decreed by the Chancellor, most of their resentment being centred on the reductions in funds for food subsidies, housing, and education; but there was grudging recognition that some economies were inevitable, as Britain’s price for obtaining t.ie sorely-needed I.M.F. loan. The leader of the Municipal Workers’ Union. Mr David Basnett. summed up; the mood when he told re-, porters: “We will not do, anything to bring down the!

: Government,” and the T.U.C.’s general secretary. ■ Mr Len Murray, told a television interviewer that the movement would still respect the “social contract” — under which the unions [ have restrained their wage , \ demands in exchange for [i sympathetic Government policies on such matters as (■welfare. I The employers’ side of industry in general has weli corned the Government’s . moves, although there are [ bitter complaints from the . construction industry, which ' stands to suffer from reduc- ’ tions in public-building and ) road-making. . Politically, the Labour . Government seems sure to > survive intact, despite the ! resentment of its powerful t Left-wing. Political sources , say there is little prospect ) of any resignations from the Cabinet. Stormy reactions are, • however, expected during i meetings of the party’s Left--1 wing Tribune Group and of >)the Labour back-bench ranks slin Parliament.