Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid have demanded all cabinet ministers draw up cuts of 5% to their department, despite promising an end to austerity.

Ministers have been told to do a line-by-line audit of their accounts and identify 10 projects that can be stopped altogether.

Protected departments including health and the Ministry of Defence are not exempt.

Sky News understands the government wants to overhaul or abolish programmes, projects and quangos associated with previous governments, including Theresa May's administration, rather than looking to squeeze salaries or welfare cuts.

The prime minister and chancellor want the savings in order to spend on their "priority outcomes": the NHS, crime and "levelling up".


The pair wrote: "We expect the secretary of state to do a line by line audit of their budgets and to identify those areas of spend that are ineffective or represent lowest value for money."

The ministers have been asked to reply by 2 March, just over a week before the 11 March budget.

However the changes will not come in before the multi-year comprehensive spending review - which sets departmental spending - expected in the autumn.

The budget is likely to be a significant affair, with new spending on infrastructure paid for by borrowing.

Spending review 'turns page on austerity'

New day-to-day spending will largely have to be financed from savings because of the fiscal rules in the Tory manifesto which puts strict limits on the additional amounts that can be financed by departments.

This comes after Mr Javid and Mr Johnson told cabinet colleagues a fortnight ago that they must identify projects from previous eras to scrap.

The scale of the savings that need to be identified are significant.