Public spending plans up 10%

Saturday 5th April 2008, 12:00AM BST.

PUBLIC spending plans announced last week are almost ten per cent up on the forecast in the Council of Ministers’ Strategic Plan of 2006.

When ministers released the first draft of the 2009 Business Plan last Friday they asked for States backing for £535m for next year, rising to ฃ572m by 2011.

Former Chamber of Commerce president Kevin Keen, a long-standing critic of States spending, says the figures show that ministers cannot be trusted to control their budgets.

The figures do not include capital projects, which are handled separately.

But the Strategic Plan that the Council of Ministers took to the States in 2006, and which was approved, set targets almost ten per cent lower than in the latest plan.

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.

View more: States Spending news.