LibDems' Clegg pledges to cut cost of politics

The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Houses of Parliament, in central London September 15, 2009.

BOURNEMOUTH, England (Reuters) - Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg unveiled proposals on Sunday to axe or merge 90 quangos and slim central government to save nearly 2 billion pounds a year.

He said members of parliament should be reduced to 500 from 646 and the leader of the opposition should be stripped of his taxpayer-funded salary and chauffeur-driven car.

Clegg said the 1.8 billion pounds of savings would be enough to renovate 200 schools every year.

"Central government in Whitehall is too big, too powerful and too expensive," he said. "We could save billions by scrapping entire government departments and culling quangos."

Reducing government spending is set to be the overriding issue of the next election, expected next May, with parties jostling over which areas should be cut and which spared to claw back the billions pumped into the economy to ease the recession.

The Liberal Democrats have been the most specific of the main parties so far in detailing their plans, although Conservative leader David Cameron has also promised to cut quangos -- government-funded agencies -- and reduce the number of MPs.

As the third-largest party and the furthest from power the Liberal Democrats also have the least to lose from a candid approach.

Clegg has spoken of the need to make "savage" cuts and his party's treasury spokesman Vince Cable has outlined his own plans for 14 billion pounds of reductions.

In a policy paper published on the second day of the Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Bournemouth, Clegg outlined a slew of government cutbacks including:

-- Shutting or merging 90 of the 790 quangos in England and Wales (saving 1.2 billion pounds a year)

-- Cutting the number of government departments to 14 (saving 314 million pounds) and halving their teams of press officers (saving 7.4 million pounds)

-- Shrinking the number of ministers to 73 from more than 100 and freezing their salaries (saving 1.9 million pounds).

"The best way to cut the cost of government is through real change in how politics is done," said Clegg.

"As well as not spending billions on wasteful databases and outdated missile systems, we politicians must also cut our cost to the taxpayer."

On Saturday Clegg risked angering party activists when he said the tight spending outlook meant the party might have to drop its long-standing and popular pledge to scrap university tuition fees in England and Wales.