Overview

This special edition of the Public Law & Regulation team's Coalition Watch alert series considers the Spending Review, published by the UK Government on 20 October.

After months of speculation and the initial flurry of media comment on the day itself, what are we to make of the Review? Is it tougher or less harsh than expected? What will it mean in practice?

This briefing is UK law firm Wragge & Co’s guide to the Spending Review: what it is, what it does, and what it is likely to mean for different parts of the public sector and the wider economy.

The briefing also look at where the burden falls as the Coalition allocates the £81bn in cuts that it is now committed to deliver, and covers not just on what this means in terms of the inevitable reduction in spending, but on those services for which the Coalition has found extra money. At a time when cash has to be saved, this additional spending tells us a great deal about where the Coalition's priorities lie.