Budget 2010: Darling says cuts will be deeper than Thatcher's

Alistair Darling admitted last night that Labour’s planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said hefty tax rises and Whitehall spending cuts of 25% were in prospect during the six-year squeeze lasting until 2017 that would follow the chancellor's "treading water" Budget yesterday, writes the Guardian.

Asked by the BBC last night how his plans compared with Thatcher's attempts to slim the size of the state, Darling replied: "They will be deeper and tougher - where we make the precise comparison I think is secondary to an acknowledgement that these reductions will be tough."

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