Property big hitters back Osborne’s cuts
Companies including Max Property, Hammerson, and Mitie have given public backing to the £83bn cuts due to be announced by chancellor George Osborne on Wednesday.
Max Property chair Nick Leslau (pictured) and Hammerson chair John Nelson today signed a statement, along with 33 other industry bosses, claiming that private sector job creation would compensate for cuts at the Comprehensive Spending Review in two days’ time.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the big hitters said the result of not tackling the deficit immediately would be “deeper cuts, or further tax rises, in order to pay for the extra debt interest”.
It said: “Addressing the debt problem in a decisive way will improve business and consumer confidence. Reducing the deficit more slowly would mean additional borrowing every year, higher national debt, and therefore higher spending on interest payments.
“The private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector.”
Other firms that endorsed the letter included Asda, Arup, and the Carphone Warehouse.
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I have noticed that the 33 companies state “The private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector.” yet these said companies specialise in providing low paid part time jobs (i.e retail and shop floor). Often people with these types of jobs need supplemental income from welfare as the minimum wage is NOT a living wage in this country. So yes private business may be able to generate sufficient jobs but the wage bill will be less than half.
Company bosses don’t care too much about public finances, they only care when their tax rate may look like it might go up…do not underestimate the sense of self preservation among “business leaders”.
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