London, March 22: Britain can save billions of pounds a year by embracing online technology in public services, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will say on Monday, weeks before an election being partly fought over soaring government borrowing.
Brown will also say the Labour government, which has funded plans to bring broadband Internet to nearly all homes by 2012, “must decide what action it will take to bring about universal access to the next generation of superfast broadband.”
The government has proposed to pay for this faster network by 2017 with a 6 pound ($9.12) a year tax on telephone lines although the idea has been criticised for being unfair.
“Faster broadband speeds will bring new, cheaper, more personalised and more effective public services to people,” Brown will say on Monday, according to extracts from his speech.
Britain’s budget deficit is heading towards a record 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, a figure comparable to crisis-hit Greece, and both the Labour government and opposition Conservatives are tussling over how best to cut it.
Labour promises to halve the deficit over four years but the Conservatives, who could win power at a parliamentary election expected on May 6, say that is not enough.
Part of either side’s plans to get borrowing down after an 18-month recession will fall under the heading of “efficiency savings” — finding cheaper ways to do government business.
Brown will say on Monday that the government can save money and improve the quality of public services at the same time.
“Shifts in existing spending, including being prepared to cancel current projects … together with more detailed plans … in the budget on Wednesday, will help us to save billions of pounds a year in public sector costs in the next few years.”
Brown has said about 12 billion pounds can be saved over the next four years through “smarter government”. Finance minister Alistair Darling is expected to dedicate part of his budget on Wednesday to outlining what that means and how it can be done.
Most economists treat government efficiency targets with heavy scepticism, arguing that they are often too ambitious and tend to be fallen back on to fill holes in fiscal policy plans or to make spending cuts sound more palatable.
——Agencies