Nick Clegg admits Government spending error

The Deputy PM Nick Clegg has said that the Coalition’s spending cuts have affected the economy

12:09 25 January 2013

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said in an interview that because of the Coalition’s capital spending cuts, Britain’s economy may have been affected – and not in a positive way. This relates to the cuts made in 2010 which are believed to be linked to public spending.

In an interview with UK magazine The House, Mr. Clegg explained that the government had made an error. He commented however, that when the Coalition first took over it was thought their plans for capital spending cuts were correct.

He told the magazine: “If I'm going to be sort of self–critical, there was this reduction in capital spendingwhen we came into the Coalition government.”

Mr. Clegg added: “But I think we've all realised that you actually need, in order to foster a recovery, to try and mobilise as much public and private capital into infrastructure as possible.”

The news comes ahead of the GDP figures being released, where some people are expecting the figures to show that the UK’s economy has taken a back-step.

 

If this is the case, the figures could be seen to be reflecting another potential threat of a recession.

Newspaper reports are referring to this as being a ‘triple-dip’ recession if a recession was to occur.

As Mr. Clegg suggests, perhaps the UK’s government should put more investments into roads, schools and building houses.

One minister from opposition party Labour is viewing the Deputy PM’s words about the capital spending cuts as a sign that the Government is admitting to their first ‘serious mistake.