Comprehensive spending review reactions

Organisations have digested the government's gargantuan programme of spending cuts and issued their responses today.

The chancellor announced the long-awaited details of the coalition's austerity drive yesterday afternoon.

The chancellor confirmed lower than expected cuts across all government departments with an average of 19% - not the 25% originally suggested.

While health and international development were ringfenced, education escaped with real-terms increases in spending for every year of the spending review, and defence cuts limited to just eight per cent, other departments are set to suffer more swingeing cuts.

Welfare spending and local government are the biggest casualties, though the Home Office, Foreign Office and Ministry of Justice will all experience cuts of nearly a quarter.

The plans will be implemented in phases over the next four years. The full implications on jobs and services may therefore be unknown until the life of this parliament comes to an end.

After digesting the full report overnight, opposition to the spending review is beginning to coalesce from all quarters: including Labour, unions, thinktanks - and the Church of England.