It's every Whitehall department for itself in spending review scuffle

Spending decisions ignore evidence in favour of politics, as the horsetrading over plans to slash budgets for scientific research shows

On the clock counting down to George Osborne's spending statement on 25 November, it's five to midnight. The most goody two-shoes departments settled with the Treasury first. They include communities and local government, leaving councils in England to infer that if the department can lop off a third of its budget for staffing and buildings, prospects for its grant to councils are grim.

Elsewhere in Whitehall, until this weekend, the line has been defiantly "it's not over till it's over". The Paris killings have reverberated around the Home Office and the Foreign Office but Osborne has now confirmed that all departments have settled their spending plans. What's clear in this spending round is that, yet again, it's every department for itself. To meet the Treasury's demand for cuts, departments are playing beggar my neighbour and its latest variant, shoving the costs onto households and business - by turning tax credits for research and development into loans, for example.