What does the content of the CSR say about the nature of the coalition?
22nd Oct 2010
"Wednesday’s Spending Review signals the unequivocal start of Britain’s age of austerity. Osborne pronounced it guided by the principle of fairness - a banner seized by his Liberal Democrat colleagues as proof of their tempering influence within the Coalition. Yet there has been much criticism that the Review is not fair at all, that it is an ideologically driven and unnecessarily expansive reduction of the state.
From its inception there have been speculation that the Coalition would carry the Liberal Democrats to the right, tipping the balance in favour of the party's liberal wing and away from its social democrat leanings. It would be easy to paint the CSR as proof of this, though such a picture is somewhat simplistic.
The notion that realities of government steer all politicians to the right is well established, and such realities are particularly present for a coalition government attempting to deal with the current fiscal crisis. The review may not be popular with those on the left, but it is arguably necessary to tackle Britain’s record deficit.
Liberal Democrat policy may be drifting to the right. Yet perhaps this results from the climate in which they govern, as much as whom they are in government with.