Labour accused of 'spending money it didn't have'

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said Labour had been spending "money they simply didn't have" in the months before the General Election, none of which was affordable, good value or in line with Government priorities.

And while the cuts would be "painful" for some communities, they were "guided by fairness and the overriding need to tackle the deficit".

"The last government committed to spend money it simply didn't have. It made commitments it knew the next government could not fulfil and in doing so cynically played politics with the hopes of many communities," said Mr Alexander.

The Liberal Democrat Minister's first major announcement in the House of Commons sparked a furious response from his opposite number Liam Byrne, whose note for his successor famously warned there was no money left to spend.

Mr Byrne said: "Both the country and the Liberal Democrat party beyond will be aghast this afternoon at your attack on jobs, your attack on construction workers, your attack on the industries of the future and the cancellation of a hospital.

"Let me ask you: what could be more front line than this?".

The projects detailed amounted to 0.05 per cent of Government spending, "nailing the myth" that Labour had operated a "scorched earth" policy in the run-up to the election, he added.

But Alec Shelbrooke, Tory MP for Elmet and Rothwell, said: "The crocodile tears of the party opposite do nothing to raise the standards of this House in the public's eyes after their cynical attempts to buy the last election."

English Heritage said it was "extremely disappointed" that 10m promised by Gordon Brown for a visitor centre at Stonehenge would not be forthcoming.

The plug is also being pulled on funding for the British Film Institute Film Centre and free swimming, as part of plans to save 73m at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Among spending to have been spared the axe was that for flu pandemic medicines, some hospital projects, support for Post Offices and spending on "crucial military equipment".