The UK Treasury is under fire as its latest spending review proposes significant budget cuts across Whitehall, including the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Health and Social Care. These cuts are being framed as “efficiency gains” by a Treasury body, despite projections indicating real-terms spending increases for both departments between 2026 and 2029.

A paper produced by the Office for Value for Money (OVfM) suggests that artificial Intelligence (AI) will be instrumental in achieving these savings.

According to outgoing institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director,Johnson,the government’s plan to cut governance budgets by 10 percent over three years,followed by an additional five percent in 2029-30,raises concerns.

“That is not the result of a serious department by department analysis.”

“I hesitate to accuse the Treasury of making up numbers,but…,” he stated.

Johnson also noted that the size of the government has been expanding at an unprecedented rate in recent years.

“In economic history terms, I think this decade will be seen as the decade in which the British state grew.”

The £20 billion increase to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) was cited as a detrimental move for the UK economy.

“This was clearly, of the big taxes, the least good from an economic point of view, even if it may have been the easiest from a political point of view.”

“Increases or extension of the VAT base, or rate increases in the basic rate of income tax, for example, would have been less damaging for the economy, but I won’t say more than that.”

Analysis indicates that council tax bills are expected to rise at the fastest rate in decades.

“That is not the result of a serious department by department analysis.”