George Osborne is planning to eradicate Britain's budget deficit by emulating Canada, where borrowing was brought under control within just three years by spending cuts of 20 per cent.
The Chancellor will announce a "once-in-a-generation" revolution in public spending inspired by Canada in the mid-1990s, when the government turned a budget deficit of nine per cent of GDP into a surplus.
Canada brought public spending under control guided by the principle that people should ask "what needs to be done by government and what we can afford to do".
The Guardian also makes its statement on this step:
David Cameron will warn tomorrow that Britain's "whole way of life" will be disrupted for years by the most drastic public spending cuts in a generation. The cuts, he will say, will have an impact on Britain's entire population.
In his most gloomy remarks since taking office, the prime minister will declare that Britain's public finances are worse than expected and are forcing him to take "momentous decisions".
Cameron will say: "How we deal with these things will affect our economy, our society – indeed our whole way of life. The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country. And the effects of those decisions will stay with us for years, perhaps decades to come."
On Tuesday George Osborne, the chancellor, will set out the first steps towards what Nick Clegg described last year as "savage" spending cuts when he outlines a framework for an autumn spending review that will introduce department-by-department cost savings.
The most radical plan will involve importing a Canadian-style "star chamber" in which members of the cabinet will be forced to justify their budgets in front of a group of ministerial and civil service heavyweights.
This would appear to fly in the face of Keynes, on his home territory, something akin to a prophet in his own land. If it worked in Canada and if the Brits are doing it why are we not even considering it.
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