GEORGE Osborne has asked Ministers to deliver “more for less” for taxpayers as the UK Government’s spending review kicked off in earnest yesterday with Cabinet colleagues gathering for the first meeting of the Public Expenditure Committee.

With just five weeks to go until the Chancellor’s spending review statement in the Commons, all departments are said to be “engaged” and have provided or are finalising revised bids to meet the Treasury’s request for deep savings.

In July, the Chancellor announced his spending review with a call for £20 billion cuts to Whitehall budgets.

Each unprotected department – outwith health, education and overseas aid - was asked to come up with savings plans of 25 per cent and 40 per cent of their budget.

A Treasury source said: “The spending review next month isn’t just about saving money so that Britain lives within its means and starts running the strongest budget in half a century but how we can get more for the taxpayers’ money we do spend.”

He explained the first Cabinet-level committee discussed how Whitehall departments would deliver on the Government’s commitment to fix the public finances “while delivering a smarter state”.