Labour plans to axe commissioners in drive to save money

Chris Leslie will use his first major speech as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury to say that a Labour government would reform and reconstitute public services to release “cashable savings” to the Exchequer.

Mr Leslie is expected to attack “botched” reforms under the coalition, which he claims have cost the taxpayer billions without delivering improvements.

Following Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’s pledge last month that a Labour government would achieve a current budget surplus by the end of the next parliament, Mr Leslie will say that the centre-left must embrace the goal of balancing the books because “the foundation of successful public service provision is the sound stewardship of public finances”.

The party’s ongoing “zero-based review” of all items of government expenditure aims not only to improve outcomes but also to save money by “decluttering” the way services are delivered, Mr Leslie is expected to say.

“Long-term and sustainable budget savings can only be made if we think and reform public services while delivering standards that people need and expect,” he will tell the Social Market Foundation think-tank in London.

Labour is currently consulting on proposals from the independent Stevens Commission, which last year recommended mergers to reduce the 43 police forces in England and Wales as well as the abolition of directly-elected PCCs, introduced by the coalition Government in 2012.

He will contrast Labour’s plans with the coalition Government’s reforms and is expected to say: “Reform is worse than pointless if it does not improve the experience of the user and ends up costing money rather than saving money”.