28/05/2013

Govt Departments Agree New Spending Cuts

Chancellor George Osborne has said seven Whitehall departments have agreed new spending cuts.

The cuts make up around 20% of the proposed £11.5bn he wants to cut spending by in the year from April 2015.

The departments which have agreed to cuts of between 8% and 10% are the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Foreign Office and the Northern Ireland Office.

The Chancellor said the justice, energy and communities are among the departments agreeing to "significant savings", but insisted that health, schools and foreign aid would be protected from cuts.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Osborne said no chancellor had been as successful in agreeing so many plans so far ahead of a spending review. The review is due at the end of next month.

The spending period in question covers the month before the expected date of the next general election, which is currently scheduled for May 2015, and the year afterwards.

He admitted that the scale of the savings were "difficult", but "necessary" in order to reduce government borrowing.

Negotiations over savings are continuing with other large departments, such as the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office, and Osborne said the government would not do anything to put people's safety at risk "at home or abroad".

The full financial details will be held back until the spending review is presented to Parliament next month.

(JP/IT)

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