Clegg appeals for savings ideas

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Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is inviting teachers, doctors and other public sector workers to tell him how the next government should save money.

All parties are under pressure to spell out how they plan to deal with the UK's biggest peacetime deficit.

But Mr Clegg said Gordon Brown and David Cameron were "talking over the heads" of public sector workers.

He also outlined plans to reduce the cost of hospital operations which he said would save £2bn a year.

Under the "payment by results" system NHS trusts are paid per individual patient, according to a set of tariffs for treatments.

In an interview with the Guardian Mr Clegg said he would rein in hospital trusts which used their monopoly positions to drive up costs by forcing them to charge the same rate as those of the cheapest hospitals.

Money saved would be reallocated to other areas of the NHS, he said.

The Lib Dem leader has set up a web page to ask people to help the party put together its plans to cut waste in public spending.

The public spending row led to bitter clashes between the two biggest parties with Labour accusing the Tories of planning stinging cuts and the Conservatives accusing Labour of dishonesty.

Mr Clegg told the BBC: "I have been incredibly frustrated as I have seen David Cameron and Gordon Brown argue over the heads of teachers, nurses, doctors, consultants, social workers ... people who provide care every day."

He said they often had the ideas to reduce spending on "silly things" - like "needless paperwork, administration and computer systems that don't work" and "instead use that to better effect".

He said he recognised "serious savings" had to be made to bring the public finances under control but services had to be protected.

The head of the civil service, Sir Gus O'Donnell, warned in July that Whitehall faced a "much tighter" spending environment in future years.