Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Osborne (pictured) said that “to eliminate the deficit and finish the job, we will reduce Whitehall spending by at least the same rate for the first two years of the next Parliament as we have done through this Parliament.”
He said that this will save “at least £13bn”, adding that “we will go on restraining public sector pay.”
Cuts to most departmental DEL budgets have been cut continuously over the current Parliament, with reductions in the latest spending review ranging between 1% and 35%.
Osborne said that, according to the latest Treasury estimates, eliminating the deficit “requires a further £25bn of permanent public expenditure savings or new taxes”, adding that this government has already found £100bn of savings in this Parliament by showing “discipline and grip.”
The announcement has been met with anger by civil service trade union PCS, whose general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "George Osborne's government, propped up by the Lib Dems, has slashed the living standards of public servants while the super rich have been rewarded with tax cuts.
"Days after voting for air strikes on Iraq likely to cost billions of pounds, politicians of all parties continue to peddle the myth that there is not enough money around to pay civil servants, nurses or teachers."
PCS civil servants will be taking part in a coordinated strike action over pay from 13 October.
In a separate party conference speech, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude condemned the current rules around trade union strike ballots. “More and more public servants are losing patience with trade union leaders who take their members for granted,” he said. “Derisory turnouts in ballots have been used to justify strike action that risks destroying jobs and damaging the economy.”
He said that, if re-elected in 2015, a Conservative Government “will legislate to outlaw strikes where less than half the eligible members have voted” and “end the nonsense of strikes being called on the basis of a strike ballot that can be months or years old.”
Maude also signalled that a Tory government would encourage departments to stop collecting trade union subscription fees through civil servants’ pay: “For the first time, we've questioned the outdated practice by which the employer collects union dues on behalf of the union.
“Congratulations to Theresa May and Justine Greening who've been the first to call time on this anachronism in their departments [the Home Office and the Department for International Development]. Other are poised to follow.”