What was claimed
UK public spending is expected to fall to US levels by 2019.
Our verdict
As a proportion of GDP, UK spending is forecast to be similar to the US by 2019. The summer 2015 Budget in the UK set this in motion.
UK public spending down to US levels by 2018/19
21 August 2015
"The "low tax, low welfare" UK state will be smaller than even the US as a proportion of GDP by 2019...."
The Guardian, 08 July 2015
"The [summer] 2015 Budget will bring UK public spending down to US levels by 2018/19."
University of Kent, 08 July 2015
The spending plan laid out by the new government could see spending by the British government drop to US levels—as a proportion of GDP.
The UK is expected to see public spending fall to 36.4% of its GDP in 2019, forecasts published by the International Monetary Fund from April 2015 show. The equivalent forecast for the US is 35.2%.
These forecasts suggest that the gap between British and American spending levels will continue to narrow as it has since 2012, when UK public spending as a percentage of GDP was seven percentage points higher than that of the US.
In absolute terms, the USA will still be spending rather more; it's forecast to spend over $7,500 billion in 2019.
You can read more about public spending here.