THE Conservatives will today publish plans to reduce £35 billion of Whitehall “waste” that could allow them to cut 10p off the basic rate of income tax, writes David Cracknell.

The party is releasing the final report from David James, the City troubleshooter who worked on the Millennium Dome, detailing how it would axe bureaucracy and save hundreds of millions of pounds.

The year-long “review of taxpayer value”, parts of which have already been released, recommends lopping £1.6 billion off the Home Office budget by streamlining the immigration system. This cash would pay for 40,000 more police officers and 20,000 new prison places.

James claims that the savings can be made largely by adopting an Australian-style approach to controlling immigration through admission quotas.

“UK voters are in exactly the same position as the shareholders of a company that has made disastrous investment decisions,” he said.

“Voters should recognise that the next election is their chance to throw out a dud board and bring Whitehall back under firm and efficient management.”

Other cuts would be at the Foreign Office, where James calls for savings of £153m by hiving off the department’s conference centres at Wilton Park and Lancaster House, relocating staff and reorganising a scholarship programme.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport would face cuts of £336m by trimming arts and sports programmes.

The largest areas of waste identified are health (£7.9 billion), education and skills (£5.6 billion), defence (£4.6 billion) and local government (£4.4 billion). But the report insists that frontline public services will not be hit.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow chancellor, said: “This is the most detailed and extensive investigation of government spending ever undertaken by an opposition party. David James and his team have paved the way for better public services, better value for money and lower taxes.”

Labour says much of the James report is “double counting” on the Treasury’s own review of Whitehall waste. Conducted by Sir Peter Gershon, this was published last summer and identified proposed cuts of £21.5 billion.

Paul Boateng, chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “None of the Tories’ figures add up — which means the only guaranteed cut from the Tories is £35 billion of cuts, hitting frontline public services hard.”

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