Pain ahead for Whitehall as Treasury demands 10% cuts

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has written to almost all Whitehall departments asking them to set out how they can make savings of 10%. It comes after George Osborne's Budget, in which it was made clear the Treasury needs to save £11.5 billion in 2015/16.

Although the Treasury only needs to find 8% savings across the board, I am told they have asked for more so there can be a 'trade off' between departments at the end.

There are some exceptions - health, schools and international development will be protected.

As for the Ministry of Defence, well the equipment budget, which is half of the MoD's spending, is already due to rise by 1%. But the department has been told to set out how it can save another 5%.

If the Home Secretary, Theresa May, had been hoping the police budget would be protected from future cuts, she will be disappointed tonight. Others will too.

All in all, much more pain ahead for Whitehall.