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ANALYSIS:The simple truth is that the cost of providing public services is too high. There must be benchmarking in reverse; the case for pay cuts is compelling

MUCH OF the emphasis on the need to cut the pay of public sector workers has taken place in the context of having to reduce the fiscal deficit. This is the imperative that informs the debate, and rightly so. There are, though, other reasons for reducing the pay rates of public servants, which give added legitimacy and moral force to the fiscal rationale.