Cost Control, Productivity and Efficiency

The election manifesto wants to reclaim the socially important activities and infrastructure that have been privatized and for the state to increase its control over infrastructure. The party programme states that collective ownership forms and coordination are decisive for maintenance to function well. The counter-proposal's requirements for tighter cost control, ongoing monitoring and more maintenance in-house follow from these commitments.

• reclaim privatized infrastructuredecisive»Det är hög tid att agera och ta tillbaka den samhällsviktiga verksamhet och infrastruktur som har privatiserats.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is high time to act and reclaim the socially important activities and infrastructure that have been privatized.”
• maintenance in collective hands»ägandeformer och samordning är avgörande för att trafiken« (party programme ↗)“ownership forms and coordination are decisive for traffic”
• state control over infrastructure»Staten måste öka sin kontroll över infrastruktur och resurser som behövs för att genomföra klimatomställningen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The state must increase its control over infrastructure and resources needed to implement the climate transition.”
• preparedness through own capacity»Investeringar i samhällets kärnverksamheter, gemensamt« (party programme ↗)“Investments in society's core activities, collectively”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The party programme requires that maintenance of roads and railways mainly takes place in state management and that state control and management of the railway system increases, which directly bears the requirement for more maintenance in own management. The plan also requires that systems leading to poor control and leakage of tax funds are abolished, which supports stricter cost control and ongoing monitoring. The plan links the same thing to infrastructure's emergency preparedness value.

• maintenance in own managementdecisive»Förbättrat underhåll av vägar och järnvägar, huvudsakligen i statlig regi.« (party programme ↗)“Improved maintenance of roads and railways, mainly in state management.”
• state control and management»Ökad statlig styrning och kontroll över järnvägssystemet.« (party programme ↗)“Increased state control and management of the railway system.”
• stricter control of tax funds»Avskaffande av system som leder till bristande kontroll, läckage av skattemedel,« (party programme ↗)“Abolition of systems leading to poor control, leakage of tax funds,”
• infrastructure for preparedness»Stark infrastruktur för stärkt beredskap.« (party programme ↗)“Strong infrastructure for strengthened preparedness.”

The plan does not directly address cost control in infrastructure projects, but requires that society secures control of critical infrastructure in crises and is critical of the state releasing important public functions to the market. It also wants to strengthen civil defense and that policy has greater discretion over how shared resources are allocated. This argues for stricter cost control and more maintenance in-house. The counter-proposal's requirement is therefore supported, with weak basis.

• control over critical infrastructuredecisive»kritisk infrastruktur och att välfärd, kommunikation, vatten, energiproduktion och elnät« (party programme ↗)“critical infrastructure and that welfare, communication, water, energy production and power grids”
• criticism of deregulation»staten släppt tidigare monopol på viktiga samhällsfunktioner.« (party programme ↗)“the state released earlier monopolies on important public functions.”
• strengthened civil preparedness»satsa en större andel av försvarets pengar på det civila försvaret, och öka anslagen till krisberedskap.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“allocate a larger share of defense spending to civil defense, and increase budgets for crisis preparedness.”
• discretion over shared resources»Politiken behöver därför ha större rådighet över hur våra gemensamma resurser fördelas.« (party programme ↗)“Policy therefore needs to have greater discretion over how our shared resources are allocated.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan certainly requires that policy economises with taxpayers' money, but its line for how public activities shall be conducted is competitive tendering and market economy without planned economy direction. The requirement that a larger part of maintenance be carried out in-house goes straight against that. Overall, the counter-proposal is rejected, even though the part about tighter cost control is close to the plan.

• competitive public activitiesdecisive»Offentlig verksamhet kan med fördel konkurrensutsättas« (party programme ↗)“Public activities can with advantage be competitively tendered”
• economise with tax money»Politiken ska hushålla med skattebetalarnas pengar.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Policy shall economise with taxpayers' money.”
• competition as driving force»Konkurrens är en viktig drivkraft för utvecklingen av marknadsekonomin.« (party programme ↗)“Competition is an important driving force for the development of the market economy.”

flags: citat_blockerat

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan's requirement for low costs and stimulated competition in public procurement speaks for tightened cost control, but the counter-proposal also requires that a larger part of the maintenance be performed in-house. The plan limits public business operations to cases with strong public interest and warns against crowding out of functioning alternatives. Overall, the plan does not support the counter-proposal's demand.

• limited public business operationsdecisive»Det offentliga ska endast driva affärsverksamhet om det finns ett starkt samhällsintresse.« (party programme ↗)“The public shall only conduct business operations if there is a strong public interest.”
• competitive procurement»Offentlig upphandling ska ske på sätt som ger skattebetalarna låga kostnader, hög kvalitet, säkrar likabehandling och stimulerar konkurrens.« (party programme ↗)“Public procurement shall take place in a way that provides taxpayers with low costs, high quality, ensures equal treatment and stimulates competition.”
• avoid crowding out»Det offentliga ska inte driva verksamheter som tränger ut fungerande privata alternativ eller försvårar nyföretagande.« (party programme ↗)“The public shall not conduct activities that crowd out functioning private alternatives or hinder new entrepreneurship.”

The party programme makes evaluation, cost tracking and quality control important political tasks and requires restraint in public spending. The counter-proposal's requirements for stricter cost control and ongoing monitoring of infrastructure investments follow directly from that stewardship. The requirement for more maintenance in-house pulls in the opposite direction, since the plan wants to avoid monopolies and allow traffic to operate in competition.

• cost tracking as taskdecisive»Utvärdering, kostnadsuppföljning och kvalitetskontroll är därför viktiga politiska uppgifter.« (party programme ↗)“Evaluation, cost tracking and quality control are therefore important political tasks.”
• restrained public spending»Sparandet i den svenska ekonomin måste hållas högt genom hushållssparande och genom återhållsamhet i de offentliga utgifterna.« (party programme ↗)“Savings in the Swedish economy must be kept high through household savings and through restraint in public spending.”
• absence of monopoly»Den offentliga sektorns verksamhetsformer ska så långt möjligt bygga på frånvaro av monopol.« (party programme ↗)“The public sector's forms of operation shall to the greatest extent possible be based on absence of monopoly.”
• preparedness in total defence»Det samlade totalförsvaret måste ha tillräckliga resurser för att kunna garantera befolkningen ett gott skydd mot effekterna av såväl civila katastrofer som aktuella militära hotbilder.« (party programme ↗)“The overall total defence must have sufficient resources to guarantee the population good protection against the effects of both civilian disasters and current military threats.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan promises an efficiency office that shall go through all authorities' finances and establishes that public waste in all forms shall be combated. The counter-proposal's main demand for tightened cost control at infrastructure investments and continuous monitoring follows directly from that guiding star. The demand for more maintenance in-house goes against the programme's principle that what others can do equally well shall not be performed by the public, but it is a sub-question in the proposal.

• examine authorities' financesdecisive»Inrätta ett effektiviseringskansli som ska gå inom alla myndigheters ekonomi för att frigöra resurser till försvaret« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Establish an efficiency office that shall examine all authorities' finances to free up resources for defense”
• combat public waste»Offentligt slöseri i alla former ska bekämpas.« (party programme ↗)“Public waste in all forms shall be combated.”
• order and control in finances»I tuffa ekonomiska tider krävs ordning och reda i ekonomin.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“In tough economic times order and control in finances is required.”
• private implementation before public»Om något kan göras lika bra eller bättre av« (party programme ↗)“If something can be done equally well or better by”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto points out deficiencies in public procurement, financial management and follow-up and requires that unnecessary expenditures be scaled back and clear results demanded for every public investment. Stricter cost control and continuous follow-up of infrastructure investments is precisely that. The party programme also wants state and municipality to retain significant influence over infrastructure, which supports more maintenance in-house.

• deficiencies in procurement and managementdecisive»Den offentliga sektorn har dels problem med upphandlingar, ekonomistyrning och uppföljning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The public sector has problems with procurements, financial management and follow-up”
• result requirements for investments»Begära tydliga resultat för varje offentlig satsning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Demand clear results for every public investment”
• scale back unnecessary expenditures»Skala bort onödiga utgifter i det offentliga« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Scale back unnecessary expenditures in the public sector”
• societal influence over infrastructure»måste stat och kommuner behålla ett betydande mått av inflytande över infrastruktur och kollektivtrafik« (party programme ↗)“state and municipalities must retain significant influence over infrastructure and public transport”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.