With the long-awaited Spending Review, the UK Chancellor finally gets to reveal the goodies rather than simply be the baddie. We have been led to expect the Chancellor will announce a number of significant infrastructure projects across the country to boost energy, transport and defence, along with a smattering of extra commitments to widen the impact of day-to-day expenditure in hospitals, policing and prisons. But there will be one question lurking behind every line item, behind every pound pledged and every Treasury footnote: how are you going to pay for it?

Spending Reviews didn’t use to be like this. They were Whitehall affairs, wrapping up the world of Westminster but rarely troubling the man on the Clapham Omnibus. Overall tax and spending decisions are taken at the annual Budget, with spending rounds less frequent as they cover anything up to four years. With the big numbers agreed in the budget, the spending review is more of an opportunity to deliver political priorities and instil discipline between competing government departments. We shouldn’t need to ask how it will be........

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