Chancellor ignores calls for Budget to reveal spending cuts

The Chancellor ignored calls by economists to go further in detailing how Labour plans to slash the record £178billion deficit.

Critics claim he is refusing to take tough measures in a “buck passers” Budget to win votes.

Whitehall sources say he is set to use an expected £2billion windfall from bankers’ bonuses to fund more spending rather than pay off some of the deficit.

Mr Darling also refused to rule out more tax rises beyond the hikes on top earners and National Insurance already announced.

He said: “Of course it is important because the economy and the decisions we take that will affect the next five, 10, 20 years are pretty critical to the big decision, the big choice the country will make whenever the election is called.

“Crucially we have got to plan now to ensure we get growth for the future because growth is what brings jobs, jobs is what will bring rising living standards.”

Asked if he would give details of spending cuts, Mr Darling said: “I will carry on spelling out what we have done, and the progress that we are making both on supporting the economy and reducing our borrowing levels, the deficit levels, that is important. But I have always said that because of the uncertainty we have seen over the last 18 months it would have made no sense to have been doing a spending review at that stage.

“We won’t do one before the election, but of course one has got to be done this year because our current spending runs out at the end of March 2011.”

He refused to guarantee there will be no more tax rises, despite Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne seeming to give such a commitment last week.

“No Chancellor is ever going to say they are never going to change the tax system over the next five to 10 years or whatever,” he said.

Gordon Brown also refused to comment on the possibility of further tax rises. “I’m not going to bind the Chancellor before his Budget,” the Prime Minister said yesterday. “When people see the Budget, they will see the plan for the future which includes the halving of the deficit.

“We’ve got that under control, we’ve taken action to deal with the debt that comes as a result of the recession but at the same time we’re not going to cut frontline services for health and education and policing.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa May said the Tories would start reducing the debt in 2010-11. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said he’d look to axe next month’s 50p top tax rate, but not until at least 2012.