Darling’s £15 billion to keep up appearances

So Wednesday’s Budget will feature some £15 billion of spending cuts.  Here’s how the Times reports the latest bit of early information:

“The Treasury has already said it is seeking efficiency savings of £5 billion by 2011. Mr Darling is expected to say that should be extended by a further £10 billion over the following three years. There will be huge implications for public-sector jobs as ‘back office’ functions are pared back. Only frontline services such as education will have budgets protected.”

You sense this is a rhetorical device, as much as anything; an opportunity for the Government to say that they’re taking the “tough decisions” to “get our economy back on track”.  Given the vast amount of borrowing that’s pencilled in for this year alone – some estimates have it approaching £200 billion – savings of £15 billion, spread over the next few years, hardly suggest that Brown & Co. are alive to the scale of the problem.