The figure that stands out from George Osborne's statement is the £5 billion earmarked in 2015/16 for ‘efficiency savings.'

Whenever I hear these two words I detect the scent of smoke and mirrors. We have been here before in the past and when auditors come to examine just what efficiency savings were made they invariably find all was not as promised.

The £5bn will supposedly come from ‘stopping wasteful expenditure, transforming transactional services, and reducing the running costs of Government.'