Bill English celebrated a week of the best economic news for a year by telling public servants there will be no belt loosening.This looks like taking the standard downbeat Finance Minister approach a little too far, (30 years of impact?) but there is more to it.
English is genuinely concerned about the long-term prospects for the state sector, on the spending and the revenue side. This is why he has been willing to consider a capital gains tax - something no National Party Finance Minister has ever done, and which even Michael Cullen wasn’t prepared to do.

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The other thing in English’s mind is an embedded belief, at high levels in some cases, the current downturn is a bit of a blip and in a year or so things will return to how they were under Labour. English’s message is aimed at stomping on this idea, good and proper - there is no way any country can prosper if its state sector is growing faster than the economy.

But how far is English prepared to go in taking on the state sector? It is those same public servants who are going to have to implement all National’s new policy initiatives.

It is not yet clear how much English’s own housing arrangements are hurting his message. They make him a target, and they also give people an excuse to talk about those arrangements rather than the policy issues English is trying to address.

A question for the Minister to ponder - is it worth risking a winter of discontent post Budget 2010 with state servants in an uproar over wages? Is the public service really the best whipping boy for the wider ills of the economy?

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