Government spending review

The MP for Dumfriesshire, Cyldesdale and Tweeddale has welcome a boost in capital expenditure for Scotland in the Chancellors' spending review and has called on the Scottish Government to deliver on infrastructure projects for southern Scotland.

The biggest cut was made to the department that funds local councils. After three years of cuts, it now faces a further 10% reduction. Hannah McNulty has been looking at the real cost of the cuts and who is paying for them.

Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner, Richard Rhodes, says that all areas will need to be considered when looking at spending cuts. He's already pledged to protect frontline services for two years. Police budgets are set to face a less than 6% cut.

A group of Public and Commercial Services Union protestors have been campaigning in Carlisle against government spending cuts:

Interesting politics; MoD and Home Office do relatively well, local government and Justice take a bigger hit.

I wonder what all those local councillors who made up the rank and file think of that.

Around 14 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union protest about cuts expected in theSpending Review outside Carlisle's Civic Centre.

The Chancellor has said that the council tax freeze is due to come to an end in April 2014.

But he added: "We will fund councils to freeze council tax for the next two years."

"That’s nearly £100 pounds off the average council tax bill for families."

The Chancellor has said that around half a million posts in the public sector have been cut. He said that a further 144,000 will go by 2015-16.

"Every job lost in the public sector has been offset by three new jobs in the private sector,2 he added.