There is no gain without pain

To fill the fiscal hole, the next government will have to raise taxes, cut benefits or slash some budgets by as much as 25%.

The December 2009 Pre-Budget Report estimates that the recession and financial crisis have punched a permanent £73bn hole in the public finances. As part of the eight-year repair job currently planned by Labour, cuts to public spending will fill £32bn of this hole by 2014/15. In large part this will be achieved by freezing total public spending in real terms from April 2011 for four years.