Budget 2009: Darling pushes for £15bn cuts

Alistair Darling will aim to cut public sector spending by £15 billion in the Budget as the government aims to balance the books.

The Times reports the chancellor will fall back on 'Whitehall efficiency savings' as a way of balancing the books.

The newspaper states Mr Darling will use Wednesday's speech to push a number of green initiatives - including £200 million for renewable energy, and £300 million to make council homes more energy efficient.

The Budget is also expected to see the government aim to restart the mortgage market through guaranteeing some £500 million worth of mortgage-backed assets.

Further packages to boost jobs are also predicted.

Much attention will also fall on the chancellor's forecast for the UK economy.

In last year's Budget report the Treasury forecast growth of between 2.25 per cent to 2.75 per cent in 2009.

By November's pre-Budget report the chancellor predicted a contraction of between 0.75 per cent and 1.25 per cent, but he has already distanced himself from these figures.

He could now put the contraction in the economy as high as 3.5 per cent.

However, he may try to take heart from forecasts out today that point to the very worst of the downturn, at least statistically, being over.

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, warned against focusing too greatly on forecasts.

"It is futile to get involved in a forecasting competition," he said.

"All we can sensibly discuss is what is actually happening. That is unemployment growing rapidly, more and more families struggling to pay their mortgages, the growth of negative equity and an unrelenting budget deficit.

"We are undoubtedly in the middle of a major economic crisis, compounded by the reluctance of banks to lend. No amount of spinning by government can avoid these simple brutal economic facts which the budget has to address."

In a Treasury YouTube clip, the chancellor stated he wanted "to help people now through this difficult time", and "invest for Britain's future".

He added he was confident an upturn would come and the UK needed to build out of it.

Stephen Barber, head of research at online broker Selftrade, explained the chancellor's attempts to cut spending may not result in any confidence from investors.

"All the spin emerging from the Treasury suggests that a key part of this week's Budget will be to claw back spending by way of efficiencies in an attempt to tackle truly dreadful public finances," he said.

"This is somewhat schizophrenic and will be greeted by the markets as such."

He stated the chancellor has so far been spending to kick start the economy, and with the cost of the bank bailouts, he will need to make up the deficit post-recession through spending cuts, tax rises or both.

"But to start ahead of recovery sends mixed signals," Dr Barber said.

"Alistair Darling will be well aware of the political and economic consequences of such action and so I suspect we will see something at least politically cleverer emerging from his Gladstone box even if this Budget won't be anything like as spectacular as the last time we saw him. W

"We shouldn't forget that if the banks are put into decent working order, their de-nationalisation could give a huge boost to the public finances. But despite good banking news of recent weeks, with notable share price rallies, bank recovery can only result from broader economic recovery - it cannot lead it as one might usually expect."