Tony Blair's former IT chief has said Labour ministers ordered expensive computer projects because they wanted their policies to "sound sexy".

Ian Watmore - who is now in charge of a Whitehall efficiency drive - gave a scathing assessment of the previous government's IT record.

He told the public administration committee Labour's procurement had been over-ambitious and badly-managed.

The coalition has called a halt to big IT projects to save cash.

In a strategy document published by the Cabinet Office, it vowed to move to "smaller more manageable projects" and said no scheme will cost more than £100m.

It has also promised to open up procurement to smaller firms, who have found it difficult in the past to break the grip of giants such as HP, BT and Fujitsu, who together get about a third of central government contracts, worth about £5bn a year.