British households fear Government spending cuts

Worried Man

British families are currently more wary about finances than they have been for over a year, according to a survey conducted by YouGov and Markit Economics.

Of all the households surveyed, 43 percent feared that they would be worse off financially within a year’s time, which is the highest figure since April 2009, during which the United Kingdom was still in recession. The reason for this gloomy outlook may be due to the new coalition government, as cuts in spending are expected, 57 percent of the households quizzed feared that these cuts would affect them significantly.

One of Markit’s resident economists, Andrew Self said: “The May survey showed the reality of impending government spending cuts biting, with job security and the outlook for household finances among public sector workers slumping to the lowest seen since the depth of the recession”.

The reason for the predicted cuts is Britain’s huge deficit, one of the coalition Governments most important areas of concern. It is thought that new Chancellor George Osborne has put together a £6 billion spending cuts package, which he will introduce this week. The prime victims are thought to be civil service employees, with thousands of workers set to lose their jobs.

Public bodies and employees of the state will be ushered into a new age of austerity when the new Government states the first of its economic intentions. The survey showed that public-sector employees were the most pessimistic, with impressions of job security at an all time low.

2,000 households took part in the survey.