BBC NEWS | Politics | 'Tories to axe Prescott ministry'

BBC NEWS | Politics | 'Tories to axe Prescott ministry': "BBC NEWS
'Tories to axe Prescott ministry'
The Tories would axe the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and replace it with a smaller local government department, Oliver Letwin has said.

The shadow chancellor also said he would make an announcement about tax plans in the 'next very few weeks'.

Mr Letwin warned plans to streamline Whitehall would not be painless.

But he insisted a Tory-commissioned review by ex-Dome chief David James to identify waste would demonstrate they could form a 'serious government'.

Targeted spending?

Mr Letwin said the review of the way Whitehall departments operated had been conducted 'line-by-line' by Mr James.

Announcements would follow on how a future Tory administration would target taxpayers' money at areas like health care, policing and defence.

Mr Letwin said scrapping John Prescott's office would save �2.3bn and he announced a further �4.43bn of efficiency savings that he said local authorities could implement to reduce council taxes.

In total, replacing the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, regional chambers and other local bodies would save �255m, Mr Letwin argued.

Cuts?

The Conservatives now claim to have identified �26bn of savings across government departments.

But Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said Conservative plans were not about efficiencies but about 'cuts to front-line services'.

'On top of these proposed new cuts, the Tories are already committed to huge cuts to the local government budget, while at the same time they acknowledge that real terms' growth is required to protect services,' he said.

'What we can be sure of is the devastating effects these proposals will have on our communities - it will mean cuts to local services and increases in council tax.'
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4161923.stm

Published: 2005/01/10 14:"