While politicians have spent the six-week election campaign pounding pavements and selling their message on the doorstep, civil servants have been hunkering down in Whitehall preparing for the next government.
Officials in each department have used the two main parties’ manifestos to produce “red packs” and “blue packs” — briefing documents created in the event of a Labour government or a Tory government being formed on Friday.
These packs, usually between 30 and 100 pages, collate party manifesto promises and policy priorities relevant to each department, while also outlining the pressing issues that require an urgent decision from the incoming cabinet minister.