Asset sales, efficiency savings, and big annual cuts in the administrative budgets of government departments were deployed by the chancellor on Wednesday to underpin his public spending plans.

The announcements – sale of the radio spectrum and a £6bn student loan book sell-off – will raise asset disposals from a planned £18bn to £36bn. Cuts in administrative costs are aimed at releasing a further £1bn for frontline services up to and including 2010. The 3 per cent efficiency savings that public services are being asked to make are aimed at releasing a further £26bn.