Spending review: All departments settle

All departments have now reached agreement with the Treasury in the spending review. Vince Cable’s Business Department, which was not expected to settle until the last possible moment, settled earlier this evening bringing the round to a conclusion.

Finishing things off with two and a half days to spare is an achievement for George Osborne. It also demonstrates the durability of the coalition. Many expected that this spending round would put the coalition under unique stress. Tory spending ministers were irritated by having to make ever deeper cuts because the Liberal Democrats would not accept further welfare reductions. While Vince Cable was making clear that he wouldn’t accept cuts to the programmes that he thought were most likely to deliver growth. But in the end, agreement has been reached with no resignations and no great drama.

Given that this spending review carries the government through to the election, its successful conclusion strengthens the expectation that the coalition will make it to May 2015. Cable’s decision to agree to an 8% cut in his department’s budget also suggests that he’s prepared to stick to the coalition for the foreseeable future.

Osborne will be delighted that everything has been wrapped up in good time. It vindicates his strategy to have left his Lib Dem Chief Secretary in charge of the negotiations until late last week. The question now is how much details will he and departments go into about what is actually going to get cut.