Labour and the Conservatives have “misled” voters on efficiency savings, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has  said today.

Both parties are promising cuts to IT, human resources, and property that can not realistically be delivered, according to an IfS election briefing note, called Filling The Hole, which was published this morning.

Labour says it can make savings of £11bn a year by 2013-14, while the Tories say they can find £6bn in this financial year through making services more efficient.

The think-tank’s report argues these plans would fail to contribute to cutting the £164bn public deficit, because, unlike pay cuts, efficiencies should be delivered with or without a need to cut spending.

It says such savings are “notoriously difficult to verify even after the event” and “it is misleading to count claimed efficiency savings as contributing to the required spending cuts”.

The IfS also says the Conservatives have provided “considerably less” detail over which departments’ budgets would be reduced this year. It claims the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ £58.2bn budget  could be first in line for cuts.

To read the briefing, click here: Filling The Hole

• Filling The Hole by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
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