Shroud waving is nothing other than the politics of fear

A NEW phrase has entered the political lexicon: "shroud waving". It describes the concentration on lurid consequences for "front-line public services" if spending is reduced. It implants in voters' minds images of forlorn ranks of suddenly unemployed nurses, teachers and police. The Conservatives are not above some shroud waving of their own, with their warnings of a plunging currency and loss of the country's triple-A credit rating. It is the politics of fear by another

Yesterday, First Minister Alex Salmond warned that further spending cuts by the UK government would be "disastrous" for public services and that attempts to cut the 2010-11 Scottish Budget would be resisted. Pat Watters, president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, warned that councils would have their budget cut by "up to" 1.8 billion by 2014, with 178 million already slashed this year. Savings, he warned will have to be found in education, police, fire service and care budgets. The National Health Service would not be immune.

It all sounds terrible, which of course, is exactly the effect desired by the shroud wavers. But how much does this accord with reality? Are we being told the full picture? The First Minister's concerns can quickly be dealt with. There is barely a country in the industrialised West that is not having to tackle billowing public debt. And just as the SNP was loud in its demands for more money in the boom years, so it must accept the fiscal discipline that comes in the lean. In any event, his rousing calls to defend the 2010-11 Budget invokes a largely mythical threat, as little is likely to change for that financial year, whoever wins the election. It is the spending totals for 2011 and beyond that will come under review.

The figures cited by Mr Watters do indeed sound 'swingeing'. But local authorities now enjoy an annual budget of 12bn. The amount of 178m "slashed" this year amounts to less than 1.5 per cent of that total.

The envisaged annual cuts for the four years 2011 and beyond will average some 5 per cent. Swingeing? There is barely a company in the land that has not had to deal with a far greater degree of cost reduction. Why should local authorities be immune?

The shroud wavers also overlook a concern widespread across voters of all parties. This is that much public money is being wasted – from the PR excesses of Transport Scotland to the 26m spent by public bodies on the Cairngorm funicular railway and now on the Borders Light Railway where work began yesterday.

Examples of public spending fritter and squitter come by the week. It would be wrong to think that the public supports a financial carte blanche.

We are indeed facing tough times. But there more positive things that can be done than shroud waving. We could follow Canada's example and appoint a minister for public service renewal – a move that has brought real clout and authority to the process of driving through restructuring and change to ensure more effective and efficient delivery of services. It is time to move on from the baleful and negative politics of fear.