Osborne: I don't pretend cuts are easy

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has reached agreement with seven Whitehall departments on some of the savings the government hopes to make in 2015.

He wants to reduce spending for the year by eleven and a half billion pounds -- but has protected the budgets for schools, international development and health.

It's thought the seven agreed so far, including the Treasury, the Foreign Office and the Communities department, will see cuts of around £2bn billion.

Mr Osborne told the Today programme's Evan Davis that most had accepted cuts of around 10%.

"The fact that I've got seven departments already, the fact that I've got some big departments like the Ministry of Justice signed up to ten per cent reductions, I think shows that we're on track and that there's a cabinet will behind delivering these necessary savings," he said.

"I don't pretend that this is easy, or particularly what I came into politics to do - I came in to politics to provide a strong economy for people and this is a necessary part of that," he added.

First broadcast on the Today programme on Tuesday 28 May.