Higher health spending obviously puts pressure on the overall level of public spending, but need not blow a hole in the public finances.

ECONOMIST: Can Tony Blair spend his way out of trouble on health?

"The most material reasons are the level of household debt, the high level of public spending, and the inefficiency of the public sector, " he claims.

BBC: Budget 2013: Should the government plough ahead with cuts?

The fiscal cost of abolishing death duties may seem trifling, but it still means that for a given level of public spending other taxes must rise, which may harm incentives more.

ECONOMIST: How to improve an unpopular tax

On Monday, the former defence secretary, Liam Fox, a Conservative, called on the government to freeze the level of public spending for five years and spend the money saved on cutting taxes and the deficit.

BBC: Budget 2013: 'UK government should build more homes'

The rapidly growing public borrowing will fuel the political debate about what level of cuts needs to be made to public spending to bring the budget into balance.

BBC: Public borrowing at record levels

Regional governments handle about 30% of all public spending (and lower-level ones another 20%).

ECONOMIST: A survey of Spain

Company chairman Malcom Gourlay warned that public sector spending cuts would affect the level of work from educational customers.

BBC: Havelock Europa sees losses widen to ?4.62m

It was essential to reduce public spending so that it could be funded by "an affordable level of taxation", he added.

BBC: Minister: Government 'on track' to cut deficit

Yet French public spending accounts for 56 percent of gross domestic product, the highest level in the euro zone, and public debt reached 90 percent of GDP this year.

FORBES: The Glory That Is The French Economy