Sajid Javid orders Cabinet to make swinging cuts to fund spending spree on NHS & crime

SAJID Javid has ordered all Cabinet ministers to draw up tough cuts to their budgets of up to 5 per cent as he unleashes a new spending squeeze.

Turning the screw on Whitehall for the first time as Chancellor, Mr Javid issued the directive in a minute this afternoon, co-signed by Boris Johnson.

The major savings are to free up tens of billions to meet the PM’s three election manifesto priorities - strengthening the NHS, making the streets safer and levelling up opportunity across the country.

Each Cabinet minister must come up with “radical options” to deliver more cash, the Chancellor and the PM have demanded.

That means axing older projects that are no longer deemed effective.

And they must also go through their budgets “line by line” and be ready to justify everything they want to keep.

It is understood that not all departments will lose as much as 5 per cent in the final reckoning, but the Chancellor wants to see all the options available to him.

In the memo, relayed to The Sun, Mr Javid writes: “We have been elected with a clear fiscal mandate to keep control of day to day spending.

“This means there will need to be savings made across government to free up money to invest in our priorities.”

A Government source added: “Every Cabinet minister is being asked, is what you’re doing matching our priorities? If not, why are we doing it?”

“It’s about shifting the tanker to face the right priorities.”

The suggested cuts must be delivered to the Treasury by March 2.

The action is the beginning of the spending review, expected to be unveiled in the summer of autumn.

Mr Javid has also asked for every secretary of state to make savings in how their own departments are run.

The Tories’ election manifesto pledged £100billion to rebuild Britain’s creaking transport and infrastructure network, as well as billions more for schools and to recruit 20,000 more police.

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