Tory plans for emergency cuts cabinet

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, is considering plans to stage a two-day emergency cabinet session soon after the Tories gain power, at which cabinet ministers would be collectively bound into large-scale spending cuts, according to shadow cabinet sources. The idea is modelled on some of the cabinet discussions held by the Labour government in the 1970s, and would bind high-spending department heads into an agreed decision on how spending will be brought under control. The Conservatives have said they may need to cut public spending by as much 10 per cent in the three years from 2011, excluding health and international development, to bring public debt under control.