by Ian Girling, chief executive, Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry

WE are just about to hear George Osborne’s plans for the ongoing fight to reduce the national deficit in the 2015 Spending Review.

This is the government's review of spending plans and is defined as “how the government will both invest in priority public services and deliver the £20 billion further savings required to eliminate Britain’s deficit by 2019/2020”. Within this, George Osborne faces increasing pressure not to continue to cut front-line policing at a time when the threat of terror attacks remains so high.

Mr Osborne has refused to rule out further cuts to front-line policing but states there will be increased spend and resources in counter-terrorism and defence. There has been a widely-publicised debate (or even ‘war’ as reported in the press) on this issue between George Osborne and home secretary Theresa May as the chancellor continues his plans for public-spending reductions to get the economy back on track.

This also comes at a time when the government has experienced its highest level of borrowing in October in six years so the pressure is on. The Treasury admits the rebalancing of the economy “is not yet done”. George Osborne is also under severe fire from the Labour Party regarding further cuts to policing in relation to the current threats from terrorism.

This is clearly a testing time for the government. There is no doubt the economic climate feels much more positive than a few years ago. Many businesses I speak to support this position. However, I still feel it is somewhat of a mixed picture; not all businesses report the same picture and we are seeing fluctuations in the recovery. The chancellor is still faced with, and stands by, his commitment to reduce public spending to continue to bring down the deficit and re-balance the national books and there is no doubt we will continue to see cuts in public expenditure. The job of Prioritising those cuts and maintaining key services is obviously a very challenging balancing act and we will see what the spending review brings this week.