The government was forced to deny today that it was 'trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.'

Many commentators have suggested that the government, currently denying that it will have to make cuts after the next election, is being somewhat 'off balance sheet' with the truth.

Westminster watchers generally acknowledge that, were the wool to be pulled over the eyes of the electorate, then Britain would effectively become a 'Kingdom of the Blind'. Were that to happen then it is perhaps fair to say that the 'one-eyed man' (Gordon Brown) would become King.

"But that's not going to happen," announced a Government spokesman.