英國新內閣集體減薪 展減財赤決心

Britain's new coalition government cut its own pay by five percent on Thursday in a sign of the tough medicine the country faces to bring down a record budget deficit.

The centre-right Conservatives and smaller centrist Liberal Democrats agreed on Tuesday on what critics call an unstable partnership of expedience after an inconclusive election.

Reducing Britain's record budget deficit of over 11 percent of national output will be the first test of the relationship.

Ministers met around the cabinet table for the first time on Thursday and promptly awarded themselves a pay cut.

Prime Minister David Cameron will see his annual salary cut to 142,500 pounds ($210,500) from 150,000, while senior ministers will be paid just under 135,000 pounds -- a very healthy salary in Britain.

Ministers' pay will be frozen for the five-year lifetime of the parliament in measures expected to save a total of three million pounds -- a drop in the ocean when weighed against a deficit forecast to reach 163 billion pounds this year. Markets are looking for signs the Conservative-led coalition will act quickly to reduce the deficit by trimming public spending, initially by 6 billion pounds this financial year.

"We are all very aware of the seriousness of the situation and frankly if we don't have a credible programme to reduce the we won't have the confidence of the markets and the confidence of the country," Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters after the hour-long meeting.

The Conservative manifesto contained a pledge to freeze pay for public sector workers next year, excluding the one million lowest paid.

The government has promised an emergency budget within 50 days. Cameron said on Wednesday the government had the worst economic inheritance of modern times in Britain.

英國新一屆聯合政府於上週四決定，全體內閣成員將集體減薪5%，爲削減英國目前面臨的鉅額財政赤字做點貢獻。

上週二，英國中右派政黨保守黨與中間派小黨自由民主黨在大選無果後達成協議，組建聯合政府，此舉被批評人士稱爲短期聯合掌權的權宜之計。

新政府上任後面臨的首個考驗就是削減佔全國總產值比重超過11%的鉅額財政赤字。

新政府的首次內閣會議於上週四召開，並立刻在會上做出了集體減薪5%的決定。

新任首相大衛•卡梅倫的年薪從15萬英鎊減至14.25萬英鎊（21.05萬美元），其他內閣大臣的年薪降後將略低於13.5萬英鎊，這在英國已相當可觀了。

內閣成員的薪資水平在本屆議會的五年任期內將保持不變。這一系列措施預計能節省共300萬英鎊的開支，但這相對於今年1630億英鎊的預測赤字來說，不過是九牛一毛。市場期待保守黨領導的執政聯盟將採取果斷措施，通過削減公共支出來減少財政赤字，本財政年度計劃將削減60億英鎊。

當天，英國文化大臣傑里米•亨特在一個小時的會議結束後告訴記者：“我們都很清楚情況有多嚴重，坦率地說，如果沒有一個削減赤字的可靠計劃，人們會對市場和國家失去信心。”

保守黨還在聲明中承諾將於明年凍結公共部門職員的薪資水平，但不包括收入最低的100萬人。

政府承諾在未來50天內公佈緊急預算案。卡梅倫於上週三表示，新一屆政府接手的是英國現代最爲糟糕的經濟形勢。

Vocabulary:

expedience：a regard for what is politic or advantageous rather than for what is right or just; a sense of self-interest（權宜，私利）

a drop in the ocean：九牛一毛，滄海一粟