Queen's Speech

This morning I spoke to a lady at HMRC in order to settle a tax bill. We exchanged the usual pleasantries about the weather and how nice it was to have had a long weekend when she told me she was also looking forward to a day off tomorrow. In answer to my question about what holiday this could be she reminded me that Civil Servants, teachers, doctors and nurses are on strike tomorrow against the changes to their pensions. She then went on to say that not only would Civil Servants have to work longer but that the Government was reducing the amount of their pay. The Government is not reducing the amount of Civil Service pay and if this is what the Unions are saying then no wonder this lady and others are up in arms. The reason for paying good pensions to Civil Servants as well other benefits unmatched in the private sector was to make up for the lower pay levels they received but Civl Servants are now paid full commercial rates as well as good pensions and other benefits unmatched in the private sector. We simply cannot afford to pay these undeserved amounts and it is quite right that the Government should bring the Civil Service into line with the rest of us. The bill to reform public service pensions included in the Queen's Speech today is most welcome and is something that should have been dealt with years ago. No doubt Labour will vote against it. It was also good to see that there is to be a bill to deal with excessive  regulation and the hope must be that the Government will use it ruthlessly. We'll only be able to judge this when the actual bill is produced.