Green Becomes ‘waste czar?’

The latest businessman to be roped into government policy is Sir Philip Green, boss of the Arcadia retail group- which includes Topshop and BHS. He claims that, if the government were a business, its huge inefficiencies would quickly lead it into bankruptcy.

Sir Philip Green has been reviewing spending across the whole of the UK government, and he claims that if better use was made of the government’s ‘buying power’ and created clear procurement strategies they could save billions of pounds every year. According to Sir Philip, ‘there is no reason why the government should not be as efficient as any business’.

Leading on from this, there’s definitely the potential for a discussion of the idea of inefficiency in government, and therefore why privatisation and outsourcing of many government services should help save money. On the other hand, maybe if more ideas such as Green’s were taken on board, there’d be no need for the government to outsource in the first place.
This article from the BBC explains the story in more detail, and includes a video interview with the man himself.