Sir, – The Government needs a lesson in simple economics. Cuts in capital spending do not constitute cuts in recurrent spending and therefore do not represent any improvement in the budget deficit (Front page, November 11th). The savage cuts in the capital programme are nothing more than a smoke-and-mirrors attempt to make this year’s budget look like it is meeting its target.
The truth is that it is nothing more than a confusion between one-off savings and real savings in the cost of running the country. Sadly, these massive cuts in capital spending do nothing to address the real problem of addressing the ongoing deficit. – Yours, etc,