Poll: Chancellor George Osborne will order £5bn cut from Whitehall budgets in his Autumn Statement. What should the money freed up be spent on?

 

Independent Voices
Tuesday 04 December 2012 15:49 GMT
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His Tatton seat is ripe for fracking, but his constituents may not share George Osborne’s enthusiasm for the drill
His Tatton seat is ripe for fracking, but his constituents may not share George Osborne’s enthusiasm for the drill (Getty Images)

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Chancellor George Osborne will order £5bn worth of cuts from within Whitehall to cover an ambitious range of projects across the country in Wednesday's Autumn Statement. Evidently, this won't win Mr Osborne friends among Civil Service mandarins - but voters may approve of funds being redirected from the corridors of power to the outside world.

Under Osborne's plans, Whitehall departments will be expected to cut day-to-day spending by 1 per cent (£950 million) in 2013/14 and 2 per cent (£2.5 billion) in 2014/15.

The Telegraph reports that Osborne plans to use the funds to build new roads, schools and other infrastructure projects.

But where do you think the balance of this saving could best be spent?

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