Whitehall departments have reacted furiously to a Treasury attempt to find more cash to keep council tax rises down.

The local government settlement will be announced alongside the chancellor's pre-Budget report today, with Gordon Brown keen to avoid high tax bills landing on voters' doorsteps in the weeks before a general election.

But an attempt to get departments to meet shortfalls through their own budgets, agreed by the Treasury only in July, has gone down badly in government.

One official tells the FT it is "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

Today's statement is also set to see further tightening of Brown's own fiscal rules and another £520 million set aside for the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking total spending to nearly £5 billion.

The cost of the war is now nearly £75 million a month, says the Telegraph.

Brown will also pledge more help for science, education and better work-life balance.