Manifesto Watch

I'm not sure how much attention the 'average' voter pays to the party manifestos at General Election time, certainly those with an active interest and those who will be held to be accountable lay great store by them - look at Iain Dale's rant yesterday. The point is that for opposition parties they are the equivalent of a lottery lucky dip, they won't know what state the country's finances are in until, or rather if, they win a share of power.

That said I do read them because it's always interesting to see what schemes and dreams they have which might, in an ideal world, be good to see in place. Following on from the Labour launch yesterday today it was the Conservative party's big hurrah. I have to say that looking at the beaming smiles at both launches you have to say that there are an awful lot of people feeling very smug and satisfied - they have, to borrow one of my favourite faces, the look of somebody who has just reinvented the wheel. The points from the Conservative party that interest me are these three.

•Cut Whitehall policy, funding and regulation costs by a third, saving £2bn a year by 2015, and save a further £1bn by cutting quangos -

Good, let's have a return to common sense politics, and can we please see an end to the knee jerk reaction of politicians, when something out of the ordinary happens, who cry 'public enquiry'. I'd actually like to see Parliament cut by half as well, have regional assemblies and allow county halls the ability to raise local taxes, but the Conservative idea of big country, small Government doesn't extend to the break-up of the Union (either politically or in marriage!)

•Save £12bn with measures such as freezing major new IT spending, renegotiating contracts and limiting public sector recruitment.

Bad. What the Conservative party seems to have ignored is the fact that a lot of public sector contracts are undertaken by private sector companies, either directly or indirectly. Making a big fuss about National Insurance only to raise the possibility of cutting jobs in the private sector by up to 40,000 through the loss of contracts is classic 'give it with one hand take it away with the other' style of Government.

•Make small business relief automatic. Small and medium-sized firms to get £2,000 bonus for hiring apprentices and government contracts broken up to make bids from small business easier

Good. Most small businesses I know would love to take on apprentices but the quality of education before the stage of apprenticeship needs to be improved. The £2,000 bonus should be paid directly to the companies who organise courses or pay small businesses through a voucher system. As for Government contracts the problem there isn't so much the breaking up as opening up the closed shop that already exists. I have a client who has a contract with the Royal Mail and the contract hasn't been put out for tender for ten years, when it comes to renewal time each January they simply phone him and ask if he's still interested, they work on the basis that was isn't broken doesn't need fixing - which isn't exactly in the spirit of competitive tenders is it?