SIR - The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have responded to George Osborne’s budget by warning that the Chancellor needs to spell out in detail, before the May 7 General Election, where his proposed £12 billion of public service cuts are going to come from.

This was the figure that Mr Osborne previously revealed would be cut should the Conservatives win the election, that some have claimed would result in returning to 1930s’ levels of public spending.

IFS Director, Paul Johnson, warned that Conservative spending cuts for 2016/17 and 2017/18 would be “twice the size of any year’s cuts over the life of this Parliament”. He continued: “You’re going to have to do things like further big cuts in child benefit or really substantial cuts to housing benefit or significant cuts to disability benefits. He’s announced £2 billion of cuts but we know nothing about where the other £10 billion is coming from.”

Commenting on the effects of the recession and the Government’s tax and benefit changes, Paul Johnson concluded: UK households “have experienced the slowest recovery in incomes in modern history”.

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose