The government has been accused of breaking its promise to end years of brutal austerity after the Chancellor ordered ministers to identify yet more savage cuts.
Sajid Javid promised before the General Election that no government departments would be forced to reduce their budget in 2020.
This pledge came after years of swingeing cuts to areas like the NHS, police and local government.
But as The Mirror reports, he has now written to cabinet ministers asking them to draw up cuts of up to 5% of their spending plans.
They’ve been told to go through their budgets “line by line” and be ready to justify any spending plans and projects they want to keep.
In the note, Mr Javid wrote: “We have been elected with a clear fiscal mandate to keep control of day to day spending.
“This means there will need to be savings made across government to free up money to invest in our priorities.”
But in Mr Javid’s spending round speech, just three months before the election, the Chancellor declared he had “turned the page on austerity.”
Mr Javid said: "No department will be cut next year. Every single department has had its budget for day to day spending increased at least in line with inflation.
"That's what I mean by the end of austerity."
Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "We were promised by Johnson and Javid that austerity had ended and the cuts in public services were over.
"They clearly aren’t on this evidence. Another Johnson lie exposed.”
The news will cause major concern at Liverpool Council, which has experienced deeper austerity cuts than any other city council over the past 10 years.
In new analysis from the Local Government Association, it is predicted that a reallocation of council funding could see Liverpool hit hard again - with another £26m wiped off from 2021 onwards.
