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Clegg in warning over spending cuts
16 Mar 2010- No movement in independence talks
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A Government trying to "ram through" spending cuts without popular support could be "torn to pieces" and face huge social unrest on a scale akin to protests in Greece, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has warned.
He said the public had so far been left out of the debate on how to cut the country's £175 billion deficit, which had instead been dominated by "political posturing" and "elevated economic theorising".
Mr Clegg told the Institute of Public Policy Research in London: "There is an enormous risk ahead. In a democracy, dramatic change cannot be imposed from above or it will fail. It has to be led by a process of political engagement.
"You only have to look at the scale of industrial unrest in Greece to see that it is impossible to reduce a public deficit quickly if you do not find a way to persuade people to go along with the process."
Tens of thousands of workers have clashed with police and waves of strikes have hit Greece after budget cuts were forced through by the government there.
Mr Clegg went on: "My point is simple: If we do not find a way to take the people of Britain with us on this difficult journey of deficit reduction, we will not be able to make the journey. We will instead follow Greece down the road to economic, political and social disruption.
"In my view, regardless of the outcome of the next election, it is unrealistic to presume that this level of change can be driven through by the standard procedures of Westminster politics.
"If a government tries to ram through major change to public spending solely through the usual Westminster combination of machismo and threats from the Whips, it will not only fail, it could find itself torn to pieces.
The Lib Dem leader said that at some point in the next eight years, government will have to cut spending by up to 10% and acknowledged the process would "painful".
He promised his party "will be setting out in advance of the election a full plan for £15bn a year of savings that can be delivered by 2012", starting in the financial year 2011-12.
