What we know already

At the Comprehensive Spending Review tomorrow, we will get a much clearer picture of how the Government plans to manage spending cuts.  There are a few things we already know, though:

1) The overall cuts will be modest.  As Fraser has pointed out, the overall cut in spending is small.  Spending is going down to around the level it was at in 2006-07.  It will remain several percentage points of GDP above the level at the start of the last decade.

2) Cut in some areas will be much sharper.  The higher bill for Government debt interest, the ringfencing of Health and International Development and the relatively soft deal for some other departments means quite drastic cuts in other areas.  The pressures created by those decisions are already becoming apparent.  The saving from a one-year freeze in the International Development budget would be about the same as the amount saved by scrapping Harriers.