§ Central to the restraint of borrowing is the restraint of public expenditure, and the key to effective control of public expenditure is that finance must determine expenditure, not expenditure finance.
§ The House debated last week the public expenditure White Paper which set out our plans for the years to 1985–86. Public expenditure is being held within the levels set in earlier plans. The ratio of public expenditure to GDP, which is the measure of the burden which public expenditure places on the rest of the economy, has been reduced from 44½ per cent. in 1981–82 to a planned 43½per cent. in 1983–84.
§ In working to get and keep public spending down we have been helped by an important institutional innovation which we have introduced—cash planning. Improved control of expenditure has been an essential factor in making possible the tax reductions I am announcing today.
§ The additions to certain public spending programmes which I am announcing today will all be met from the contingency reserve and so will not add to the planned total of expenditure.
§ We have also maintained a strict control over the running costs of Government, in particular manpower. By the end of this month we shall have reduced the numbers of the Civil Service to 651,000—a fall of 80,000 since 1979. The target of 630,000 by April 1984 which we set ourselves on taking office and which some thought unattainable is thus now within reach. Civil Service numbers will by next year be lower than at any time since the war.