Alistair Darling needs to tell us that frontline services will be affected by cuts

The credibility of the Chancellor’s Budget tomorrow depends on the policy changes that he announces for the public sector.  It won’t be enough for him just to announce a series of public spending totals that decline gracefully in the years to come.  Within some broad limits, anyone can do that.  What counts is whether he backs it up with practical ideas to target the big government costs, which lie in two places – benefits and the public sector workforce.

In retrospect, the general election has fallen at the wrong time for the UK public finances.  Since early last year, the prospect of an early election has allowed the Government to put off the date of publication of its full plan to address the deficit.  The most negligent decision was to put off the spending review which was due last summer.  That would haven given a sense of the Government’s new priorities for each of the big public services.