30 November 2006

Government spending will become more accountable and visible if proposals from the Conservatives become law.

The party will introduce a bill into the House of Lords before Christmas instructing the Treasury to create a single, searchable website that includes every item of government spending over £25,000. This will allow the public to see how the government is spending taxes by searching as they would on the search engine Google.

Speaking at a lecture in London, shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "It will make it easier to hold the government to account for its spending at a click of a button, and help to encourage better value from public spending."

The website would work in the same way as a site recently approved by President Bush in the US.

A Conservative party spokesman told SM the party hoped the bill would put the government "under pressure" to improve efficiency.

The party expects the bill to pass in the Lords, but be blocked when it reaches the Commons because of Labour's majority. The spokesman denied, however, that it was simply a political exercise. He said it would be something the Conservatives would "definitely want to get through" if the party was in power.

SMnov2006