Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce four government departments have agreed to cut their spending by an average of 30 per cent over the next four years.
The BBC reports the Treasury, transport, local government and environment departments have agreed provisional deals on cutting day-to-day spending ahead of the joint spending review and Autumn Statement on 25 November
Osborne has asked most Government departments to come up with savings of between 25 per cent and 40 per cent by the end of this parliament, with health and overseas aid budgets protected.
The Chancellor is expected to say later: “While debt is high, our economic security is in danger.
“No one knows what the next economic crisis to hit our world will be, or when it will come. But we know we haven’t abolished boom and bust.”
Osborne is seeking £12bn in welfare savings from the Department for Work and Pensions, but an agreement is yet to be reached.
Following the defeat in the House of Lords over working tax credits, he is looking for new ways to save £4bn.
But Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith is said to be strongly resisting attempts to make universal credit less generous.
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