Chancellor George Osborne names DEFRA in spending cut plans
DEFRA, the government department responsible for inland and coastal waters, is to have its budget slashed by £162m as part of sweeping cuts designed to wipe out “wasteful spending”.
Chancellor George Osborne outlined plans today to cut £6.2bn from governmental budgets to begin to reduce Britain’s national deficit.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will lose 5.5% of its 2010/11 budget by limiting recruitment and making ‘efficiencies’ in flood management, IT, estates and procurement, and a reduced budget for the delivery of selected programmes.
Speaking in London this morning, Mr Osborne said the cuts were necessary to tackle Britain’s £156 billion budget deficit.
“This is just the first step towards creating better public services, a stronger economy and a fairer society. It will not be the last,” he said.
“I want people to know in the years ahead that we do this not for its own sake but in order to improve the quality of people’s lives and build a better economic future.”
“We inherited an economic mess, but we can come out of it stronger.”
