But we’ll only get the full picture as the departments produce
their detailed spending plans. The ones to watch will be the Home Office
(police cuts) and Department of Communities and Local Government
(council cuts). We also need to see what they mean by protecting the
NHS and schools, and whether there is a shift in conflict prevention
spending from Defence to International Development.

The good news for us was the effectiveness of Alan Johnson as Shadow
Chancellor. He talks to people in the street – instead of to the
Whitehall village. That will be central to the campaign over the coming
months and years, to expose what the Tories have done and explain that
there is an alternative.

For our supporters, this spending review was punitive. Young working
families looking for a council home will be the big losers. with cuts in
Surestart, working tax credit, childcare support, EMA and housing
benefit on top of the VAT increase pushing up household bills next year.

14.07: @neilwholey: Just downloaded pdf of full 106 page spending review document. Price on front £45. http://bit.ly/dbJrEG #csr

14.05: @CarlRaincoat: David Winnick MP for Walsall North, says this will be a day of tragedy for the British people #csr

14.04: @Shelter: Housing is one of the biggest losers in #CSR #SR10 .Join the fight for affordable housing: http://bit.ly/5c4tAI

14.01: @CarlRaincoat: Why did he ignore the economic growth dividend; jobs and growth programme increasing tax revenues, and tax the 1% super rich – Meacher #csr

14.01: @fellowsjack: 10bn rise NHS in context,equivalent of a 0.1% annual rise with inflation. health service needs an extra 3% eg ageing population #csr

14.00: @PoliticallyBrit: Very impressed with Alan #Johnson. He gave a human face to the gory cuts planned by the Tory-Liberal #Osborne.

13.57: @peterjharvey: NEVER FORGET: Tories cheered as £20bn welfare cuts announced. #csr #spendingreview

13.53: @RichardAngell: We dont agree w giving power2those who didn’t want 2 open out-of-hrs RT @olivercooper: AJ thinks givin doctors more power is ‘top-down’ #csr

Sally Keeble, 13.51: Labour’s alternative strategy. Supporting the economy, and the recovery.

Our lad done well! Confounded the skeptics.

Sally Keeble, 13.50: Now AJ is talking about the Home Office. I can’t
remember Osborne even talking about the cuts he was making in Police.
He’s
having a go at the Tories about the waste of paying for another
top-down reorganisation of the NHS. as a former health secretary Alan
knows what he’s talking about on the NHS. Actually this particular
reorganisation is risky.

Sally Keeble, 13.46: AJ highlights the cost of redundancies across the public sector. Asks for Danny Alexander to share the details he has – from his papers photographed yesterday.

He rightly highlights the burden on the poorest and on women – cuts in tax credits, childcare support, sure start, higher pension age (coming along with equalisation) cut in EMA, cut in Child Benefit, cuts in support for council and social housing tenants…etc

13.46: @tracysteadman: OMG where have they been hiding Alan Johnson? He’s fab #sr10 #csr

13.46 @joedgoldberg: CLG total cuts is 33% – see p10 of CSR report. What an utter catastrophe

13.46: @mgshanks: Where’s Clegg gone? #csr #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.44: Draws uncomfortable lessons for the Tories on ireland. Once held up as a model economy, now one of the worst in the EU.
AJ compliments IDS, but then points out that the steps taken over tax credits will make life harder for working parents.

13.42: @ns_mehdihasan: Johnson is a great performer #sr10

13.42: @jonesythered: Great that Ireland has been raised. Ireland has followed Tory economic prescriptions – and has caused catastrophe. Shout from rooftops #csr

13.42: @DavidPrescott: AJ DPM’s line was brilliant and the One nation Tory line was very good but he has to watch it doesn’t turn into stand-up #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.42: AJ teases Nick Clegg on his conversion to deficit deception – says he only recently discovered Greece!

13.40: @oliverjlewis: alan johnson putting in a masterful response #csr #csr10 #sr10

13.40: @micpayne: AJ speaking in terms understood by the country not those lies peddled by the deficit deceivers opposite him. #csr #sr10 #spendingreview

13.38: @RichardAngell: Alan Johnson: it took the IFS 48hrs to show the unfairness of the emergency budget – how long will it take this time?

Sally Keeble, 13.37: AJ shows why he became shadow Chancellor. Says the Tories are Deficit Deceivers. You tell ’em AJ!

13.37: @chuzzlit: Really, who’s going to be cheering that departments have been cut by 19% instead of 25% because of larger cuts to welfare? #sr10 #csr #cuts

13.35: @RichardAngell: Come on AJ – time to hit back for the communities who voted Labour and needed Lib Dems to stand up for them

Sally Keeble, 13.35: Osborne says cuts will be less than Labour would have done. I’ll bet the detailed figures show the exact opposite. The welfare measures look especially cruel, the nasty party coming out to play!

Sally Keeble, 13.32: Schools for the future was one of our best programmes – David Miliband’s. The Tories are scrapping it. Just patching up the roofs instead of brand new schools.

13.31: @vsmacdonald: #sr10 Nick Clegg gets his pupil premium. Sure Start to be refocused on disadvantaged, Education Maintenance grant to go

Sally Keeble, 13.31: Education – another big one.

Increase in real term spend on schools up to £39 billion. Pupil premium – bung to the lib Dems (something we already did anyway).

Increase in places 16 to 19 year olds, but getting rid of EMA. So there will be places, but families may not be able to continue to take them up.

Sure start becomes a safety net for the few instead of an entitlement for the many.

13.30: @pgrigg: interesting – “sweeping aside ring fencing in education” – wonder what this means for enterprise education funding #csr10 #sr10

13.30: @stellacreasy: Cut in EMA just slipped in there….just in case you missed it…#sr10

13.30: @ScottSeamons: Osborne: Cap on regulated rail fares to rise by 3% above inflation for 3yrs. #sr10 FFS because we want everyone to drive everywhere dont we

13.29: @MT_editorial: £2.5bn pupil premium to encourage good schools to take pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.28: Agree with the increase in capital spend on transport. This must be mopping up all the extra capital spend Osborne announced at the start of this.

13.26: @InsidetheM60: Manchester Liverpool train electrification will go ahead as with lines to Blackpool and Preston #csr

Sally Keeble, 13.26: Says will increase transport investment. RPI plus 3 per cent increase on fares did I hear? that is a big increase and will hit my Northampton commuters hard.

13.25 @olivercooper: BBC to halt encroaching into local media markets and online. Great news for creative industries and local communities. #csr

Sally Keeble, 13.25: BBC world service funding – taking over the World Service will help the FCO which pays for it now.
BBC on-line restrictions – this is interesting, I wonder if its the result of the lobbying by the Tories’ media barons.

13.23: @stellacreasy: 15% cut in arts funding means even if museums and galleries are free there probably won’t be much to see in them! #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.23: Kept our free entries to musems and galleries. That’s good news, it was a great Labour innovation.

Sally Keeble, 13.22: Growth – getting rid of train to gain – as i said, don’t be young.

Big investment in adult apprenticships. that’s good. Presumably this will provide places for people who can’t get into university because of the cuts.
Supporting community post offices. This is a bung for the Lib Dems.
Protection for science budget. That’s good news. (Except for the efficiency savings). Where is Vince Cable’s great strategic vision? Science and post offices?
£1 billion for carbon capture storage, and money for off-shore wind. Support for families to reduce bills. Chris Huhne seems to have done better.

13.21: @stellacreasy: Warm front programme being phased out- that means cut yes? Good to see renewable energy incentives though #sr10

13.21: @NIACEHQ: Adult apprenticeships up by 50% to 75,000 a year #csr #sr10

13.19 @channel4news: Osborne: Science budget to be “protected” at £4.6bn a year – confident that scientific output can still increase #sr10

13.19: @lindseyhilsum: Protecting the science budget £4.6bn a year. That will please those who say future economic success depends on innovation. #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.19: Complete agreement with the Ombudsman on Equitable Life – BUT they’re not paying out the total amount either by the sound of it. Interesting how people shift their position in government.

13.18: @FSBpress: It’s time to hear about BIS…here we go #sr10 #spendingreview

13.16: @RichardAngell: All great Lab creations RT @TimMontgomerie: Osborne says he’ll keep free bus passes, tv licences & winter fuel allowance for pensioners #CSR

Sally Keeble, 13.15: Here’s the long trailed cut in child benefit. Almsot an anti-climax.

On the NHS – efficiency savings to be recycled into front line – this is a very old chestnut.

Higher priority for dementia. That’s good news, something I campaigned for during the election.

Continued commitment, but we need to see the small print of this.

Sally Keeble, 13.11: Universal credit. I agree with this in theory, but in practice it will be incredibly hard to deliver. It’s why the tax credit system got into so many problems, because you have to take so many factors into account in calculating the payments.

A lot of Tory MPs then wanted more flat rate payments, more rough and ready justice, but would not provide such big over or under payments.

Other changes:

time limit support allowance to one year.
inrease age threshold 25 to 31 limiting single people to renting single rooms
local authoriites lflexibility to manage council tax, and reduction in council tax benefits. (bad news that one a big cut for people)
mobiity and care elements dla for people in residential care.
freeze max saving credit award for four years
tax credits – freeze 30 hur element. change working tax credit, couples with children have to work 24 hours. that’s a cut for working parents.
childcare element return to 70 per cent – will make it less useful to working mothers.
cap no bens. no family that doesn’t work will get more than those who do.
war widows pensions will be excluded.
Savings equal £7 billion. So many devils will be in the detail.
Increase child element of tax credits. – Good because it goes straight to the right families. They learnt from the criticisms to their earlier announcements

13.08: @BigWells87: RT @uklabour: We must tackle the deficit, but not by hitting hard working people with huge, unnecessary cuts http://bit.ly/YourBetterWay #BetterWay #CSR

Sally Keeble, 13.06: Now the big one – welfare spending – a third of all spending.

13.03: @kevpeel: Extra £2bn for social care will be cancelled out by inflation & increasing demand of ageing population. #CSR

13.03: @afuahirsch: #CSR Ministry of Justice budget will be £7billion by 2015 – a real terms cut of 25%

Sally Keeble, 13.03: Gordon’s 75p pension increasae comes back to haunt us yet again.

The formula for the future looks better. With deferred pensions through the raising of the pension age. Will produce £5 billion a year. it’s a clever formula provided people can get jobs for that long.

John Hutton put in the frame – but I don’t agree with John Prescott.

13.02: @jazz26: State pension age to increase to 66 for men & women in 2020, 4 years earlier than planned. #csr #spendingreview

13.01: @navcaecm: Expansion of personal budgets announced for children with disabilities’ & special educational needs #csr

13.00: @stellacreasy: Wonder why it’s fair to ask next generation to grow up in poverty? harder for kids to do well if families hit in way Osborne proposes #sr10

Sally Keeble, 13.00: “Extract maximum sustainable tax revenues from financial services.” Everyone can agree with that, and we promised it as much as the Coalition. What we need is to know what that means. How much money?

Wants £7 billion from tax dodgers and £5 billion from benefit swindlers.

12.58: @RuthSmeeth: Burton too RT @stellacreasy: Suspect that is the death knell for waltham forest court- but GO says depts publish details next month…#sr10

12.58: @JamesVernoit: Osborne claims banks were appallingly regulated – He opposed all regulation – He wanted less not more banking regulation. #csr

12.57: @ns_mehdihasan: Finally, a Tory recognizes that banks might, possibly, have played a teeny-weeny role in the recession and the subsequent deficit…. #sr10

12.57: @GeorgeEaton: Osborne speaks as if Labour increased the deficit just for kicks. The fiscal stimulus prevented a depression. #sr10

Sally Keeble, 12.56: Let’s see how the reduction in the CPS works. It always seemed to be me an under-funded service up against well paid defence lawyers.

Legal aid – we could do with more for some areas of law. It’s only the immigration legal aid budget that has grown so much.

12.55: @KathrynPerera: Prioritising of terrorism prevention is a good signal to be sending out #CSR

12.54: @j_freedland: Foreign Office one of the big #csr losers: cut by 24%, it continues trend to reduce it to a glorified trade mission

12.54: @BevaniteEllie: So will the public RT @gabyhinsliff Osborne on police: 4pc year on year cuts. dead silence.tory backbenchers will absolutely hate that. #csr

12.54: @mencap_charity: Chancellor said Supporting People & Disabled Facilities Grant “a priority” Mencap will be monitoring carefully to see details #csr

Sally Keeble, 12.54: The FCO has a tiny budget and a big cut. The shift from political to commercial diplomacy has been tried before, and to be honest, diplomats are not always the best at business.

Good news on the continued commitment on DFID. We need to hold the Coalition to the commitment, and also make sure that the aid budget is just that – and and not diverted into conflict prevention.

Shame about China. As a Dfid minister, I saw our HIV Aids work there and it was excellent. It also gave us the leverage to talk to the Chinese about developing their anti-poverty strategy.

12.52: @lucytobin: International Aid budget up £11.5bn by 2014. More than a third higher. #csr

Sally Keeble, 12.51: 80 per cent market rents for social tenants will mean no new young social tenants in London, I suspect. this is a big shift in ensuring we have mixed communities in the big cities, and also the protection of traditional communities.

12.50: @joe_oliver: Can the opposition’s response be lead by Dennis Skinner please? #csr

12.50: @garydunion: Social housing to be ‘more flexible’. Those of you watching with your Tory-to-English phrasebook know this translates as ‘less secure’. #csr

12.49: @londontonight: #ITVspendReview #SR10 Osborne: grant funding for social care will be increased by £1bn

Sally Keeble, 12.49: Good that people will get more control of the finances for their care services, and intersting that it will be extended to special education.

GP fund commissioning can work, and there is good news about more joint working between councils and the NHS.
But freedom to manage your own budgets needs adequate budgets. Councils need enough money, as well as the ability to make decision over its use.

12.47: @iancawsey: Council funding ringfencing to end next year – they will be free to spend their cuts as they wish – #csr #spending

12.47: @hoganist: 490,000 public sector jobs will cost as many jobs again in the private sector. #sr10 #csr #spendingreview

12.47: @Ewannic: End of ringfencing? Suspect cuts under the radar of the National Press. #CSR

12.45: @PinstripeDave: Not that bothered by the Diamond Jubilee to be honest George! #csr

Sally Keeble, 12.45: Still money for the pet project – the Big Society. Perhaps we’ll find out what it is. The money put into the voluntary sector and training community organisers will not make up for the 490,000 cut in public sector jobs.

12.43: @CHARLIEBACH: 490,000 public service jobs to be cut. This #CSR is social engineering not deficit reduction

12.42: @cathynewman: Delivering double the £3bn whitehall admin savings promised, osborne says. #sr10

12.41: @kevpeel: Osborne: I believe the public sector needs to change… so I’m going to sack half a million. #CSR

Sally Keeble, 12.41: Interest rates provide the balance on capital spending budgets.

12.40 @stuafcb: “All in this together” bingo…. #csr

12.40: @UKBudget: capital spending up by £2bn pa compared to June forecast #spendingreview #csr

12.38: @hoganist: ‘Equivalent to 16 new hospitals’ which the coalition has no intention of building #sr10 #csr #spendingreview

12.38: @ns_mehdihasan: £5 billion in debt interest savings? That’s what he calls saving the UK economy? That justifies 500,000 redundancies? #sr10

Sally Keeble, 12.34: Predictable headline – attack on waste and welfare, as if they’re both the same. the buzzwords are heath, education, security and infrastructure, but we already know that there are cuts predicted in education, security and the infrastructure of housing and rail.

Sally Keeble, 12.28: Message from the coalition is “don’t be young, don’t be a student, and don’t have a family.”

Sally Keeble, 12.19: First time I’ve heard people on the street talk about a CSR with total dread.

My big fears are:

– Halving money for new social housing, AND cuts in local government decent homes programmes, PLUS cap on housing benefit AND end to security of tenure.
– Scrapping EMA, it’s a lifeline for lots of families in my old constituency of Northampton North.
– cuts in student financing – we need the skills to rebuild the economy.
– Cuts in tax credits that have enabled families to manage through the recession.
– Policing cuts – this is a really big quality of life issue.
– Cuts in the Justice Department. These always get overlooked. They hit victims of domestic violence and homeless people.
And at the end that we get tipped into a double dip.

12.18: Sally Keeble, former MP for Northampton North, sat on the Treasury Select Committee and will be giving her views on the CSR.

We’ll also be including interesting tweets as the CSR goes on.