
We speak to David Gauke and Giles Wilkes, two experts who have been at the heart of the spending review process.
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Today, we’re setting the stage for a key moment in UK politics — the upcoming spending review, expected this November. The spending review will set some £600 billion of departmental budgets from April 2025 onwards, and will be a crucial moment for the next government to lay out its priorities and plans for public services.
How should the incoming government go about doing the next spending review? How can the government make sure they deliver on their priorities? And will they be constrained by so-called ‘treasury orthodoxy’?
To help us answer these questions, we're joined by two people who have been at the heart of government - David Gauke, a lawyer and former MP who served in the Treasury under David Cameron and Theresa May’s governments and Giles Wilkes, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and former special adviser to Theresa May and Vince Cable.
Related content
Participants

David Gauke

Senior Fellow Institute for Government
Podcast details
- DOI
- 10.1920/pd.ifs.2024.0007
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
. (2024). The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government [Podcast] Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/ps600-billion-problem-awaiting-next-government (accessed: 19 July 2025).
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