Further £11.5bn spending cuts
Chancellor George Osborne said that seven government departments have provisionally agreed to cuts of up to 10% for 2015 to help make savings of £11.5bn.
Report: DWP 'offers to cut welfare bill by extra £3bn'
The Daily Telegraph has reported that the Work and Pensions Secretary has offered to cut the welfare bill by another £3bn each year to protect spending on the armed forces and police.
According to the newspaper, Iain Duncan Smith personally contacted the Defence and Home Secretaries about the proposal.
But a spokeswoman for Mr Duncan Smith said: "Iain has not had any special discussions about protecting the defence or security budgets. These measures were on the table at the time of the Autumn Statement."
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