The Committee also countered claims made by the Chancellor that his October Spending Review was a “progressive” budget.
In the Spending Review in October, Chancellor George Osborne announced he would cut £81bn from the public budget over the next four years, in the deepest reduction since the 1920s.
Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie, in a report on the move, said the TSC are split over the “timing and pace” of Osborne’s plans, though he admitted cuts were needed.
TSC members were also “sceptical about how new some of the large savings from the ‘Spending Challenge’ are in reality”, it said.
“Whilst there is general party political agreement that consolidation is necessary, there continue to be differences over its precise method, timing and pace,” Tyrie said.
Tyrie said it will be a “major challenge” to ensure all parts of the UK benefit from future growth.
The government’s decision to employ more spending cuts than tax rises suggests it would have been very hard for the overall consolidation to have been progressive, the report states.
However, TSC members welcomed the additional £2.2bn of capital spending by 2014-15 announced in the Spending Review, compared to the June Budget as “it appears capital spending by government has the greatest impact on overall growth”.
The report also advises the Treasury not to be “afraid” to demand spending
currently ringfenced in certain areas like the NHS be reallocated where the benefit is the greatest.
