The spending review that will conclude in the summer will lead to most departmental budgets shrinking as a share of national income, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.
The planned annual average rise in public spending of 2.7 per cent in real terms for 2006-07 and 2007-08, which are the two new years covered by the spending review, will result in an average rise of just 1.4 per cent for spending other than health and education.
