Conservatives would publish contracts from 2011

The "full publication" policy would come in from 1 January 2011. Every "commercially significant" clause would be published online and all supporting documentation would be made public, reports The Guardian . "Our commitment to publish government contracts in full is the most radical transparency announcement ever made by a British political party – and will enable the public to hold ministers and civil servants to account like never before," said shadow chancellor George Osborne. "This policy will help us to cut government spending, root out waste and empower the public – and bring in a new age of transparency and accountability." Initially contracts involving the Ministry of Defence and the security services would not be covered by the policy, but the Tories say they want to find a way of publishing contracts relating to "non-sensitive" procurement by these bodies. All other departments would have to publish their contracts unless they could persuade the Treasury that publication would be a threat to national security. Cameron provided details of the policy in a speech delivered by video link to the Technology Entertainment Design conference in California on 10 January 2010. He said he believes that transparency of this kind will make government more efficient, and has already promised to publish details of every item of spending worth more than £25,000. He thinks the latest initiative will stop government negotiating contracts that represent poor value for money and that it will make it easier for rival suppliers to compete.