Who shall rescue us from the meddlesome priests of ‘budget discipline’ rhetoric? Budgeting in the public interest post-COVID, part IV

Politicians have endorsed a new public management that diverts funding from the continuous provision of public goods to ad hoc projects with greater or less public benefit, writes Geoff Edwards in part IV of ‘Budgeting in the public interest post-COVID’.

A curious mindset seems to afflict politicians and the financial press around budget time. The notional pool of public revenue available to spend in the forthcoming year mutates into two distinct forms. Money earmarked for ongoing public services such as libraries, national parks and schools is labelled as a ‘cost’ and targeted for restraint in the name of ‘budget discipline’.