Treasury wields the axe on an extra £1.5bn of spending
THE government scrapped a further £1.5bn of unfunded spending commitments yesterday, as it continued to wield the axe on years of Whitehall waste.
There was never any funding in place for any of the projects, but the former government
claimed under spending on other commitments would provide the cash.
Treasury officials said the government had “wildly over inflated” the amount it expected
to generate from under spending, in a bid to rubber-stamp the projects before the election.
The Department for Education will reduce spending by £1bn; the Department for Business Innovation and Skills must save £265m; the Home Office will lose £55m and the Department for Communities and Local?Government must save £220m.
Chief secretary Danny Alexander said: “The previous government committed to spending money it simply did not have. These unfunded spending promises should never have been made.”