Tory leader would also slash number of MPs from 650 to 585
A pint of lager: £2.10 in the Houses of Parliament, David Cameron reports
David Cameron today vowed to cut ministerial pay and stop MPs enjoying subsidised food and drink at Westminster in a drive to cut the cost of politics by as much as £120m a year.
In a speech in London, the Conservative leader also said he would cut the number of MPs from 650 to 585, reduce the cost of the Electoral Commission, and save £50m by slashing the running costs of parliament by 10%.
Cameron acknowledged that the savings he was talking about were a "pinprick" in relation to the overall amount of money that he wanted to save in order to bring the government's budget deficit under control.
Tory leader David Cameron's speech in central London about how he would cut the cost of government to taxpayers. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA But he said that politicians had to set an example.
"I want to make clear: under a Conservative government, far from politicians being exempt from the age of austerity, they must show leadership," he said.
Cameron spoke shortly before Alistair Darling, the chancellor, delivered a speech in Cardiff saying that Labour would "not flinch from difficult decisions by making clear, hard choices on public spending". Cameron said that even though ministers were now starting to shift from the position they adopted earlier this year, when Gordon Brown was denying that Labour would have to reduce spending, they were still reluctant to admit the scale of the problem.
"Hardly anyone in the cabinet can actually being themselves to say the word 'cut'," Cameron said.
The Tories were different, Cameron argued. He said that he was outlining plans to reduce the cost of politics because he wanted to show that he was serious about cutting public spending.
"Public spending on politics is a pinprick compared to the total amounts of money we are dealing with. But we cannot ask people to bear that burden unless we are prepared to play our part and take a lead by doing so."
Last month, the Guardian revealed that Cameron was considering cutting ministerial salaries if he won power. There were suggestions that he could cut pay by up to 25%.
Instead, Cameron said today he would impose a 5% cut – slicing £6,500 from the prime minister's salary, and £4,000 from the salary of a cabinet minister. He also said he would freeze ministerial salaries for the lifetime of the next parliament and that the total savings from his ministerial pay crackdown would be £250,000 a year.
Cameron outlined the other cuts that would bring his total savings from cutting the cost of politics to up to £120m a year.
• Cutting the running cost of parliament by 10%, saving £50m. "At a time when every family and business is seeing where they can cut back, where they can be more efficient, parliament must do so too," Cameron said.
• Reducing the size and cost of the £24m-a-year Electoral Commission. Cameron did not say how much he expected to save from this, but he said the commission had overreached itself with "advertising campaigns and wasteful marketing initiatives" and the Indian Election Commission supervised state elections in areas "the size of European countries" on a budget of £2.5m.
• Eliminating subsidies for food and drink in the House of Commons. Cameron said this would save up to £5.5m.
• Cutting the budget for ministerial cars by one third. Cameron, who did not say how much this wold save, said that there was no need for 171 cars to be on hand to carry around government ministers and whips.
• Imposing new rules to stop public sector bodies hiring consultants to lobby politicians. Cameron said this would save £10m.
• Reducing the size of the House of Commons. Cameron said there should be 585 MPs, instead of 646 as there are now and 650 as there will be after the next election. This would save £15.5m, he said.
• Abolishing the £10,000-a-year communications allowance for MPs. This would save £5m, Cameron said.
• Getting rid of "unelected, unaccountable and unwanted" regional assemblies. This would save £18m, Cameron said.
• Abolishing the standards boards that oversee the behaviour of councillors. Cameron said voters were meant to do this job. Scrapping them would save £9.5m.
Cameron was particularly critical of perks for MPs. "Under Labour, millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been wasted on funding what can only be described as a cushy lifestyle for politicians," he said.
"Walk into a bar in parliament and you buy a pint of Foster's for £2.10," said Cameron in the speech. "That's a little over half as much as in a normal London pub. And in the restaurants on the parliamentary estate you can treat yourself to a 'lean salad of lemon and lime-marinated roasted tofu with baby spinach and rocket, home-roasted plum tomatoes and grilled ficelle crouton' for just £1.70. That's all thanks to you: taxpayers' cash subsidising a politician's food and drink."
Cameron spoke following the demotion yesterday of Alan Duncan. Duncan lost his job as shadow leader of the Commons because he was filmed complaining about MPs having to "live on rations".
It would have been highly embarrassing for Cameron to have delivered today's speech with Duncan still in post.
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