The Conservatives have pledged to slash Labour's culture of "big government".

Shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin said yesterday that Gordon Brown was presiding over an overly bureaucratic public sector.

Along with shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, Letwin revealed that the Conservative-commissioned James review has identified £1.725 billion of savings that could be made from cutting NHS red tape.

The shadow Cabinet members accused Labour of installing too many layers of decision making, including primary care trusts, strategic health authorities and the size of the Department of Health itself.