IT is not an exaggeration to say that this week will be pivotal in dictating the direction of the remainder of this parliament.

National security has risen even higher up the political agenda following the Paris attacks and David Cameron's plan to take the fight to the so-called Islamic State by extending airstrikes over Syria will be one of the defining decisions of his time as Prime Minister.

But even that momentous call is perhaps overshadowed by Britain's economic security and the implications of tomorrow's Spending Review and Autumn Statement by George Osborne. A five-year projection of Government spending, it sets out the framework for how £4 trillion of taxpayers' money will be shared out, with further deep cuts widely anticipated.

How will the Chancellor compromise over the £4.4bn which he'd planned to take from working tax credits before the pesky House of Lords got in the way? How will he pay for the £3.8bn above-inflation cash injection he has promised for front-line NHS services following warnings that they are unable to cope? And how will he veer away from planned cuts in police budgets now that the Paris attacks have made national security a greater concern?

Mr Osborne is a man in the Thatcher mould when it comes to having an instinctive aversion to u-turns, so we know that the axe is going to fall elsewhere to make up for any shortfalls.

Local authorities will again be bludgeoned and there are serious questions about whether relatively small borough councils, such as Darlington's, will be viable as independent authorities by the time we reach the next general election.

Mr Osborne may surprise us all and take his foot off the austerity pedal. But with no credible opposition to worry about, it's hardly likely.

Brace yourselves.