Osborne to reveal full scale of cuts

The Prime Minister told the Cabinet that the spending review would be fair and would support economic growth.

David Cameron said it was important to keep the country “on-side”, despite the £83 billion in cuts. He accepted that public sector workers would fear for their jobs – with a leak of official briefing papers yesterday suggesting that almost half-a-million would go in the next four years as a result of the cuts.

‘Fair’ package
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister summed up that we have got to be clear that we need to deal with the deficit, but do that in a way that’s fair and takes the country with us.

“Clearly this is an anxious time for some people in public sector jobs, but we have a plan and it’s a four-year plan, it’s not something that’s going to happen in one day.

“It’s going to be tough but it’s something that is achievable and that we believe is fair and promotes economic growth while protecting the things that people care about.”

Biggest cuts
The package represents the biggest round of spending cuts since World War II.

Mr Osborne will warn of a “hard road” ahead as he unveils budget cuts of up to 25 per cent in some departments, with the Ministry of Justice and Department of Work and Pensions set to be among the hardest hit.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander was yesterday photographed reading two pages of the spending review that outlined the expected number of jobs to be shed.

‘Unavoidable’
The document stated that tackling the deficit was “unavoidable” and public sector workers would face the “inevitable” impact of the cuts.

The BBC will have its budget slashed by an estimated 16 per cent and will take over funding of the World Service. The licence fee will also be frozen for the next six years as part of the cuts.

‘Universal’ handouts including child benefit and winter fuel payments are also facing further cuts, on top of a major crackdown on sickness and housing benefit.

Lib Dem message
In a message to Liberal Democrat activists, the Deputy Prime Minister,Nick Clegg, has appealed for backing for the coalition’s austerity drive, insisting the package was “hard” but “fair”.

He said that Liberal Democrat ministers had been involved every step of the way in the spending review.

“Our values and priorities are written through the review, like the message in a stick of rock. We have had to make some very difficult choices. But the review is one that promotes fairness, underpins growth, reduces carbon emissions and localises power.”

He said that Lib Dem Ministers had fought their corner.

“On child benefit, capital gains and tax evasion and avoidance – this Government is making the well off pay their share,” he added.

“And for those services that matter most to the vulnerable in our society, such as health and social care and early years education, spending is being protected.

“We are not taking the decisions today because they are easy or because we want to see a smaller state. We are taking them because they are right.”

Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith is believed to have promised big savings to get the Treasury to agree to fundamental reform of the welfare system.

The long-awaited Comprehensive Spending Review comes just a day after David Cameron unveiled the deepest cuts to Britain’s defence budget in 30 years.

42,000 jobs in the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces are to culled by 2015.

Economics Editor Faisal Islam last night revealed that 14,000 jobs would be cut from the Ministry of Justice, after obtaining leaked documents from the department.

The memo stated: “The front line will bear the brunt of this with an estimated reduction of 11,000.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This lifts the lid on what the Government’s spending cuts will mean for staff and public services, and once and for all gives the lie to the spin about fairness.

“What is clear is that, far from being concerned about how best to manage resources, this coalition Government has made a political choice to fundamentally undermine the welfare state with no thought for the impact on citizens and communities,” he said.

Labour leader Ed Miliband criticised the government ahead of its review, saying “there is an alternative” to deep cuts.

“What the government should be doing is putting in place a plan to reduce the deficit, but also protect growth and jobs in our country,” Mr Miliband said.

“What I fear we’re going to hear today is an irresponsible gamble with our economy and indeed many of the frontline services that people rely on in our communities.

“People will be very fearful about what is being announced today, fearful for their jobs, fearful for many of the services they rely upon up and down the country,” he said.

Union members will stage a series of nationwide protests today, as workers and campaign groups warn of the threat to jobs and public services as a result of the Government’s spending cuts.

Public sector workers including nurses, teachers, librarians, firefighters and other employees will take part in rallies and meetings in areas across the UK, including Cardiff, Newcastle, Sheffield, Barnsley, Cambridge, Southampton, Bolton, Luton and London.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the government’s austerity programme is a political choice, not an economic necessity that would make Britain “a more unequal, more squalid and nastier country”.

“They want us to believe that they have no choice and that this is economic necessity. Yet economic experts across the spectrum warn us that the cuts are too deep and too rapid.

“At worst the cuts will plunge us back into recession, and at best they will condemn us to lost years of high unemployment and growth so weak that the deficit may well stay high.”