Just 48 hours after Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, warned there would be less spending in certain parts of government, "pressures" on expenditure and "constraints for the next decade", the Prime Minister failed to admit there would be cuts under a future Labour government.

THE Conservatives last night turned up the heat over the UK Government's positioning on future spending cuts by branding Gordon Brown "dishonest".

Just 48 hours after Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, warned there would be less spending in certain parts of government, "pressures" on expenditure and "constraints for the next decade", the Prime Minister failed to admit there would be cuts under a future Labour government and instead talked of "tough choices" and a change of the spending "profile" after 2011.

Mr Brown's tone and content contrasted with that of both Lord Mandelson and Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary and head of the UK's civil service, who admitted he could "envisage a situation" where there were "deep dives" in spending for some Whitehall departments.

Asked about reports that departmental mandarins had been preparing for "doomsday" cuts of up to 20%, Mr Brown told yesterday's session of the Commons Liaison Committee that the idea was "quite ridiculous".

"You must not believe everything you read in the newspapers," he said.

However, he did accept that some elements of budgets, such as capital spending, were due to go down as money had been brought forward to tackle the recession.

"The profile of public spending will be different in the years to come. There will be tough choices that have to be made," he said.

Mr Brown explained that his first priority was to steer the economy back to growth and to reduce unemployment, which rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million in the three months to May.

Ministers, he pointed out, had identified £9bn of efficiency savings in back-office functions and income from this process, and the sale of assets would be channelled towards frontline services.

The PM also suggested there was little prospect of a comprehensive spending review being held soon, although there are indications from the Treasury that Chancellor Alistair Darling could flesh out some projections in the pre-Budget report expected in November.

Mr Brown pointed out that it was only 15 months since the last major review was completed and stressed how the government could not currently know whether cuts would be needed.

Last night, George Osborne launched a full-blown attack on the Prime Minister, saying: "Gordon Brown's dishonesty is becoming an embarrassment for the whole government. His claim that cuts can be avoided is now openly challenged by the Cabinet Secretary and the Chancellor.

"He dismisses newspaper reports the civil service are contemplating 20% cuts but those reports come straight from the mouth of Gus O'Donnell."