Government runs with "radical" Tory pledge

Labour pledges to publish public service contracts worth more than £20,000

Labour aims to get the details online by the end of 2010

In a move that sees the government adopting a key plank of the Tory’s technology manifesto, Labour has said it will publish all public service contracts worth more than £20,000 online by the end of 2010.

This idea has been mooted for a while and in October it was described by Tom Watson, ex-Labour minister for digital engagement, as "one of the most revolutionary ideas around transformational government from either party”.

He also said at the time: "If the Tories were to create such a database in an open standards format, there would be full exposure to everything the government does. It is potentially revolutionary."

However, the Conservatives have said that if they won the coming general election, they would publish contracts for goods and services worth more than £25,000.

The Tories have also promised to publish details such as break clauses and penalty measures in full.