For once I agree with Mr Annoyed re the hot potato thing.
There will be cuts, I think everybody has absorbed that, but they need to be able to sell the cuts to the electorate.
It depends on whether they can spin this or not. My guess is they probably could, but it has quite a high chance of backfiring in a big way.
It is easy to sell it as an expensive perk to which many of our colleagues in the private sector are excluded - right up to the point were some Cpl from the Parachute Regt* with an MC is in the Daily Mail with his kids having been removed from private school and getting bullied in a state school. Throw in a couple of pictures of him carrying an afghan kid to safety and hey presto, the electorate are 'off message'.
* insert favourite unit of the month.