Britain's big budget cuts include losing 490,000 jobs, raising retirement age

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MercuryNews.com:

LONDON -- Britain unveiled its most radical shakeup of public finances in decades, outlining a deficit-reduction program Wednesday that will scale back the size of government, cut welfare benefits, shrink the armed forces, tax banks and raise the legal retirement age.

Almost every aspect of public services, with the notable exception of health care, will be affected by spending cuts totaling a whopping $128 billion over the next four years. Britain's ruling Conservatives say such drastic action is necessary to get the country out from under a heavy load of public debt and erase a government budget deficit equal to nearly 12 percent of gross domestic product.

The cost will be the elimination of an estimated 490,000 jobs in the state sector. Police departments will be downsized, universities will lose funding, tenants in public housing will see their rents rise and the long-term unemployed will have some of their benefits slashed.

Even Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family are to make do with reduced government subsidies under the spending blueprint.
"Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink, when we confront the bills from a decade of debt," said Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, the British finance secretary. "It is a hard road, but it leads to a better future."