Ministers beg Brown for cash

GORDON Brown has been forced to delay his long-awaited spending review amid bitter horse-trading with Cabinet colleagues.

Tony Blair has intervened in a bid to settle disputes between the Treasury and Whitehall departments over how much cash is on offer. As a result, the Chancellor will have to wait until the middle of next month to unveil his spending plans for the next three years – two weeks later than planned.

Negotiations have been made difficult by Mr Brown‘s pledge to slash up to 80,000 civil service jobs – and save £20bn – by 2008.

After five years of increases, the Chancellor is trying to curb spending amid concern about the £10bn black hole in public finances. The only departments to escape the crackdown are health and education, which have already been promised big increases. Health spending – which was £56bn last year – will reach £90.2bn by 2008.

Education, meanwhile, will see its budget soar from £63bn next year to £76.6bn by 2008. However, there are other ministers lining up to try to squeeze more money out of the Treasury.

Home Secretary David Blunkett is hoping Mr Blair‘s support will protect his Budget, not least because crime will be a key issue in the general election campaign.

The Ministry of Defence is also engaged in a battle to prevent cuts of up to £3bn. While Mr Brown will be careful not to be seen to cut money for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is seeking other savings.

And Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon‘s case is badly weakened by revelations that the MoD‘s biggest equipment contracts – including Eurofighter and a new radio system for troops – soared £3bn over budget last year.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is also facing a tough battle as the cost of overhauling Britain‘s railways soars bns of pounds over budget. While money may be provided for some high-profile projects – such as the £10bn Crossrail scheme in London – passengers could be forced to fill the funding gap by paying higher fares.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is also facing a testing time, particularly if the Treasury scrutinises his multi-million pound plans to create elected assemblies in each of the regions.

The Department for Trade and Industry is also vulnerable, despite an appeal from the Confederation of British Industry for the Chancellor to protect schemes which help firms. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett also face their budgets being squeezed.