UK government details spending cuts

LONDON (AP) - Britain's new Treasury chief on Monday outlined more than 6 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) in spending cuts, with most of the savings dedicated to cutting a record budget deficit.

George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, said the cut include 2 billion pounds from information technology programs, suppliers and property, 700 million pounds saved by holding back on recruitment and 500 million pounds from cutting "low value" spending.

Osborne gave no figures on how many public sector jobs would be cut, but he said most of the cuts would be through not filling vacancies. The reductions total 6.24 billion pounds, he said.

"This is the first time this government has announced difficult decisions on spending," Osborne told a news conference. "It will not be the last."

He did not comment, however, on tax increases which are widely expected to come as part of the deficit-cutting drive.

"Over the summer there does need to be a conversation in the country about what we can afford going forward. There are going to have to be difficult trade-offs," Osborne said.

Osborne's Conservative Party leads a governing coalition with the Liberal Democrats which took power two weeks ago, and the government has moved quickly to cut spending and to set up an independent Office of Budget Responsibility to assess public finances and forecasts, which previously had been the chancellor's responsibility.

The government is making austerity visible partly by cutting back on official cars for ministers and discouraging first-class air travel, with the aim of saving 1 billion pounds.

"The years of public sector plenty are over," said David Laws, a Liberal Democrat who is Osborne's deputy.