ABSTRACT
The chronic weakness of the public expenditure surveys of the 1960s was their tendency to underestimate future costs. The 1963 survey showed public expenditure rising by an annual average of 4.1 per cent in real terms. In the 1980 Public Expenditure White Paper it was announced that 'the government intend to reduce public expenditure progessively in volume terms over the next four years', and public spending cuts in 1979-1980 brought the expected denunciations from interested parties. By February 1980, for example, public spending was running outside the cash limits, with the Ministry of Defence the major culprit The welfare state lobby in the Conservative party was also keen to prevent long-term public spending cuts in the social services. Many left-wing Conservatives felt that swingeing public spending cuts in this area would be a fundamental betrayal of the Conservative tradition of compassion and social responsibility.
