Spoiling the Party
The big set piece debate at the TUC yesterday was about 'cuts' in public spending - the big beasts of the union jungle were all on show - until one chap popped up to spoil the party.
Just as Doug Rooney - the conference chair - was about to put things to a vote - 'there's no one opposing' he said out loud - up jumped a delegate from BALPA (the airline pilots union).
He wanted to oppose the motion - 'you're not trying to be funny', said Rooney, rather ungraciously - as the BALPA man went to the rostrum.
And no he wasn't being funny - he argued that his union couldn't support a motion which said that there could not be any cuts at all in public spending - that it was unrealistic to pretend that every public pound was being wisely spent.
Needless to say his contribution wasn't cheered to the rafters - instead it was met with the kind of enthusiasm normally reserved for a bucket of warm spit.
But he had a good point - and made it very effectively.
Last year MPs were wasting money by the bucket load - on everything from floating duck houses to cat food - to state-of-the-art plasma TVs - and all at public expense.
So it's ridiculous to argue that every public pound is sacred - for example reducing the number of councils in Scotland would save a fortune - simply by getting rid of a whole range of senior posts.
15 councils instead of 32 councils - would mean 17 fewer chief executives straight away - all of whom are paid in excess of £100,000 a year.
The debate over public spending has a long way to go - how far and how fast to reduce the deficit is a legitimate argument - but even the last Labour government had to concede that major budget cuts were inevitable.
As ever - much will depend on whether the unions get carried away with their own rhetoric.
Just as Doug Rooney - the conference chair - was about to put things to a vote - 'there's no one opposing' he said out loud - up jumped a delegate from BALPA (the airline pilots union).
He wanted to oppose the motion - 'you're not trying to be funny', said Rooney, rather ungraciously - as the BALPA man went to the rostrum.
And no he wasn't being funny - he argued that his union couldn't support a motion which said that there could not be any cuts at all in public spending - that it was unrealistic to pretend that every public pound was being wisely spent.
Needless to say his contribution wasn't cheered to the rafters - instead it was met with the kind of enthusiasm normally reserved for a bucket of warm spit.
But he had a good point - and made it very effectively.
Last year MPs were wasting money by the bucket load - on everything from floating duck houses to cat food - to state-of-the-art plasma TVs - and all at public expense.
So it's ridiculous to argue that every public pound is sacred - for example reducing the number of councils in Scotland would save a fortune - simply by getting rid of a whole range of senior posts.
15 councils instead of 32 councils - would mean 17 fewer chief executives straight away - all of whom are paid in excess of £100,000 a year.
The debate over public spending has a long way to go - how far and how fast to reduce the deficit is a legitimate argument - but even the last Labour government had to concede that major budget cuts were inevitable.
As ever - much will depend on whether the unions get carried away with their own rhetoric.
