Tax cuts, yes, but first reform public services

Sir Richard Sykes is Rector of Imperial College London and the new Chairman of the Advisory Board of the independent think tank Reform. Sir Richard published in the Telegraph on 3 September, "Tax cuts, yes, but first reform public services." .... But we are in danger of spiralling into an ad hoc debate about tax reduction without facing up to the underlying necessity for spending reform. Reforms to make public spending more efficient and to limit government's activity will create the room for tax reductions. They are the essential precondition for tax reduction. It will not be possible without them.... Political leaders would gain great credit by being more honest about the outputs of the services for which they are responsible. For example, it is astonishing that ministers take credit for improving exam results when around 50 per cent of A grades in A-level mathematics, physics and modern languages are achieved in independent schools (which teach only one in eight A-level students).... We are now approaching a genuine turning point.... There is a clear and urgent choice. Either reform to improve services, keep government affordable and enable tax reductions. Or a continued failure to reform, leading to rising costs, reductions in services and further tax increases. Either economic growth, with all its benefits, or the disaster of low growth and its creeping social and economic cost. We need much greater honesty in the political debate about the extent of change that is needed and the greater role that markets can play in delivering better government performance and value for money. On the one hand it means an end to the one-size-fits-all attitude that characterises the provision of public services. For example, we select in every other part of life, so why not in education? The idea that the comprehensive system would increase social mobility, would "give everyone a grammar school education", is one of the greatest lies told to the British people. We must end the waste of human potential. On the other, it means the recognition that funding for services will not come from the taxpayer alone. Despite its calls for long-term thinking, the Government has done nothing to reconcile rising expectations with inevitable limits on the funding that the taxpayer can provide. The NHS is already struggling to fund the latest cancer medicines. The future of universal public services depends on the creation of mixed funding systems. The introduction of tuition fees in higher education represents a first step in the right direction. This approach is not "Right-wing"; recent experience shows how markets have advanced opportunities for everyone in society. Following the privatisation of telecom-munic-ations and air travel, mobiles and international flights have become accessible to all. But a decent education, the crucial thing in life, is not available to all. Only two-fifths of 16-year-olds achieve good passes in the core subjects of English, maths and science.... Next year's Spending Review ... should be based on a "growth rule", that public spending will rise by less than the rate of growth of the economy, to focus minds and allow for tax reductions in the near future.