Chancellor George Osborne will outline £6 billion worth of spending cuts on Monday morning as the coalition attempts to plug a hole in the UK's record deficit.

Early reports suggest the axe may fall on government bodies, with "a bonfire of quangos" expected to save around £513 million.

Vince Cable's Business, Innovation and Skills department is also expected to lose out, with as much as £900 million of cuts taken out of its budget. Universities, already in the firing line, could lose some £200 million of its funding. Government travel expenses, recruitment, consultancy fees and schemes like ID cards may also be targeted.

The NHS and overseas spending look to be the only ringfenced areas of policy safe from the cuts, despite Mr Osborne saying frontline services will not be touched.

Sources close to the Treasury say that the cuts announced by Mr Osborne later will not be as bad as first thought, because the coalition has managed to find efficiency savings in so many areas of Whitehall.

But, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned on Sunday that the coming months and years will be "painful".