Listening to Labour’s response to the announcement of Coalition proposals for public sector cuts yesterday you would have thought that they had nothing to do with the previous Government and certainly no responsibility for any of the budget deficit.

Now we can all argue about a) how much Labour are responsible and b) When the cuts should take place, but there is no getting away from the fact, as all parties agree, that we need massive cuts to public services in order to reduce the budget deficit.

Key point No.1 has to be that we don’t overdo the cuts and £6bn, whilst sounding a lot (and is), is only a fraction of the Governments overall budget, and it has been done with the approval of the Governor of the Bank of England and following consultation with leading economists. In addition cuts have to be sensitive to the delicate slight recovery that would seem to be underway, so as not to jeapardise our climb out of recession.

Key point No.2 is that key frontline public services for the old, frail, young and infirm have to be protected. Even if”back-office” functions are cut, we must protect the vulnerable in society.

Key point No.3 is to ensure that we are as even handed as possible – there is no use devastating certain areas of public services if such devastation leads to further catastrophic problems as a result.

Overall, from what I’ve seen, I feel the cuts announced yesterday do meet these three key points and so, while I am not exactly happy the cuts have been made, as a believer in strong public services who can, I feel they are being approached in a proper, considered, manner by the new Government.

Ultimately the fortunes of the Coalition partners may well succeed or flounder on how the cuts and progress out of recession are handled, but its certainly to early to judge, and I for one won’t take any lessons from Labour on how the public finances should be managed.