The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is adamant that there can be. His shadow, Alan Johnson, is equally decided there cannot be.

Time will tell, perhaps sooner rather than later, because there is no scientific, economic formula written in stone. There will always be variables that cannot be typed into that formula.

In a sense, Mr Osborne is correct. He may have to tinker with Plan A but not lose sight of its aim, which is probably what he means anyway.

What is undeniable, however, is that after Mr Osborne delivered his comprehensive spending review in the House of Commons on Wednesday, he left nobody in any doubt that, in the eyes and mind of the Coalition, Britain was on the brink – with a structural annual deficit of over £100 billion and debts costing Britain £43 billion a year - and it was his Herculean task to bring it back from ending up in the abyss. To achieve this, he administered a dose of medicine of such proportions to his patient it will do one of two things: kill him or slowly revive him back to the economic land of the living.

This meant he had to inform dying Britain, as the Coalition government sees it, the only way back to health was a clawback of £81 billion spread over the next four to five years. No wonder the patient blanched. Yet, Mr Osborne had left himself no alternative after June’s emergency Budget.

The public sector population alone is being cut back by just under half a million. And left out of the review was an unspoken acknowledgment that there will be future increases in the state pension age to 66, a measure that will save billions of pounds and rake in billions of pounds more in taxes from those who remain longer in the workforce. Welfare savings to the tune of £18 billion, which include cuts in child benefits, were seen by many as contrary to David Cameron’s vision of a “family-friendly” Britain.

Nor did defence remain unscathed, the army losing 7,000 men by 2015, the RAF having had its Nimrods cancelled, the navy seeing its carrier force halved and its Harrier jump jets consigned to whatever oblivion awaits such aircraft.

Much thought seemed to have gone into just what was required for Britain’s security. It was easy to understand where the Chancellor was coming from when he cut the defence budget by eight per cent in a context of national security perceived to be different to what this required in the past. Where it leaves Britain as a voice in security beyond its boundaries is another matter.

The simple, and, therefore, complicated, truth in all this is that the Coalition inherited a financial situation that was disastrous, one in which the previous Labour Administration seemed to think that if you fling money at a problem that problem will go away. This turned out to be demonstrably not the case and even Nick Clegg was persuaded that draconian measures were needed to bring Britain back into economic play.

Nothing less would do and, it has already been more than mooted, further cuts in spending may well be necessary in four years’ time.

By then, of course, the British people will be in a position to know at first hand whether Plan A worked or not. If it has, more power to the Coalition’s elbow; if it fails... but Mr Osborne stubbornly does not countenance this possibility.