Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to announce some £15 billion of spending cuts over the next few years when he delivers his Budget statement this week. It is forecast that he will say the money can be found by making Whitehall more efficient and will announce that the Budget will reveal a public borrowing requirement potentially more than £160 billion.

When politicians are unable to match the expenditure with the income they always resort to mythical efficiency savings. It is a sure sign that they are unable to provide an answer to the problems they face.

What is surprising is that not only do the present administration resort to trying to find these mythical savings but we have similar promises from the present opposition that they will also discover this treasure trove when they become the Government

They say they will unearth this munificence that has eluded governments for decades. Some hope!