THE scale of the fresh cuts to Whitehall departments has been laid bare with ministers being told to find reductions of up to 10% from their budgets for the year 2015/16.

Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has written to ministers, explaining the need to cut a further £11.5 billion from spending for the year of the election will mean as much as an extra 10% cut on top of the savings already made.

It is regarded as an opening gambit in what will be a fraught period of negotiation with the Treasury until George Osborne, the Chancellor, makes his Commons statement in June.

However, spending on health, schools and overseas aid will continue to be given protection.

Meantime, the Ministry of Defence is likely to get a 1% real-terms rise in its equipment budget and a 5% cut to the rest.

A Treasury spokesman said last night: "These are planning assumptions that allow flexibility, not final decisions."

Chris Leslie MP, Labour's Shadow Treasury Minister, said: "The Chancellor decided in the Budget to stick with the same old failing policies and a tax cut for millionaires."