The cabinet will be taking a number of difficult decisions which will hit most people’s spending power next year, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a short comment on the government’s spending plans on Tuesday.

‘We are repairing the roof while the sun shines,’ Balkenende said. And while people would have less to spend next year, workers and families would see their disposable cash rise by up to 5% over the entire cabinet period, Balkenende said.
But at the moment, ‘the strongest shoulders must bear the heaviest burden,’ he said.