As is usual with this Government the devil is in the detail. With the pleadges to protect services and the fairly minimal increases in taxation combined to a pledge to half the country’s borrowing, if anything was clear it was that the sums didn’t quite add up.

Now thanks to the Institute of Fiscal Studies we have expert examination that confirms what many feared , that “unprotected” services will face cuts of £36 Billion over the next 3 years. To put this into context the Armed Forces budget is £38 Bn.

Whilst that is a worry to put it mildly, what is also worrying is that we now learn that Gordon Brown overruled Alastair Darling and the Treasury on the proposed strategy. The Treasury wanted to make deeper cuts sooner – which the opposition generally believe is necessary. But Gordon Brown with an eye on the coming election clearly felt the medicine would be too severe and stepped in – but at what cost to the economy and peoples livelihoods?

Interestingly Brown is on record as a great admirer of Margaret Thatcher. Older readers will recall that Thatcher regularly usurped her Chancellors – remember Lamont, Howe and Lawson? Has Brown modelled himself on Thatcher? If so with £36 Billion of cuts coming our way the suffering will be long and hard.