Portrait of the week | 23 October 2010

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The coalition government announced cuts under the Comprehensive Spending Review of £23.1 billion, or 3.3 per cent of total government spending, over four years. The schools budget joined the NHS and international aid in being protected from cuts. This will be paid for by deeper cuts in welfare spending. Spending on infrastructure was revised upwards. The social housing budget will be heavily cut. George Osborne claimed he was cutting non-protected departments by 19 per cent, less than the 20 per cent Labour had planned. The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast a loss of 490,000 jobs due to the reduction in the public sector by 2014–15, offset by 1.5 million more private-sector jobs over the period. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, spoke of more quantitative easing. Railway passengers face sharply increased fares. The BBC licence fee is to be frozen for six years, and the corporation will pay for the BBC World Service, which had been on the Foreign Office budget.