AFTER months of confidence-sapping speculation, the Government will today finally flesh out its plans to tackle the deficit.

And, thanks to Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander being careless with his papers, we know already that the coalition expects 500,000 public sector jobs to go.

If you listen to those staying true to the coalition, there is no choice because we are in such a deep financial hole. If you listen to Labour, the alternative is to take twice as long to make the necessary savings.

In the North-East, a region heavily dependent on the public sector, the impact will be devastating. With more than 40,000 jobs expected to go in our region, there is no hiding from that fact. We, therefore, favour a less rushed approach to tackling the deficit.

There was a taste of what is to come yesterday when David Cameron unveiled the strategic defence review, which will lead to 42,000 MoD and forces jobs being cut by 2015.

There was some good news for our region in the confirmation that two aircraft carriers will be built, because we have a big part to play in that particular supply chain.

On the downside, we understand that nearly 2,000 jobs are under threat at RAF Leeming, which makes such an important contribution to the North Yorkshire economy.

In the meantime, the coalition is pinning its hopes on stimulating the wider economy with policies designed to “facilitate a movement of jobs from the public to the private sector”.

From the North-East’s point of view, it is, of course, pure fantasy to expect the private sector to be able to fill such a massive void.

We can only pray that the bad news of the Comprehensive Spending Review is tempered to some extent by the go-ahead for the Hitachi trainbuilding factory at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

We are really going to need the 8,000 jobs that project would create.