MM4,
What has changed in the last 9 months is that the government has decided to reduce the government deficit by an additional £119bn in this Parliament, with 80% of that coming from spending cuts.
Bob Ainsworth's "policy" of creative accounting, head in sand and hope (aided and abetted by Bill Jeffrey and Jock Stirrup) was always going to hit the fiscal rocks - the NAO's Major Project Report 2009 showed that - and they weren't honest enough before the election to say so.
Instead, they relied on SDSR to square the mahoosive deficit (c. £50bn
before the spending cuts) to make all of these unpalatable cuts after the election. I believe it is quaintley called "leadership" in some parts.....
So 70 Chinooks? I rather doubt it.
S41