The Conservatives have promised to give £1million of taxpayers’ money as a cash prize to the person or team who manages to “harness the wisdom of the crowd” by producing an online platform to solve “common problems”.

The Tories claim that they want to harness ‘the collective wisdom of the British people’, but the idea as already come in for a great of criticism and both Labour and the Liberal Democrats dismissed it as a “gimmick” and a publicity stunt.

The winning product will have to provide an effective site for the public to post their ideas on, as well as a truly beneficial outcome for it to be worthy of the £1million payout, which the party says would be the biggest prize offered by a British government in the modern era.

Ideas “to get the ball rolling” suggested by the Tories include: identifying and rooting out wasteful government spending, designing credit card bills that anyone can understand; rating the quality of schools and hospitals; making government information clear and simple; and – they say – picking the England squad for the 2010 World Cup.

Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said the party would “only give this money away… if there is a solution”.

But he said: “Conservatives believe that the collective wisdom of the British people is much greater than that of a bunch of politicians or so-called experts.”

“There are currently no technological platforms that enable in-depth online collaboration on the scale required by government – this prize is a good and cost-effective way of getting one.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Jenny Willott said:

“This prize is clearly a publicity stunt and a total waste of taxpayers’ money. There are already a multitude of ways to communicate with large numbers of people online, from Facebook to discussion groups.

“Maybe the Tories are so out of touch they don’t know what’s out there, but they shouldn’t waste £1m of public money reinventing the wheel.

“This is obviously a misjudged gimmick and I hope they see sense and drop it immediately.”

Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Office minister, predicted the idea would be quietly dropped by the Conservatives in the new year.

“Families want serious, thought-through policies that meet their aspirations, not short-term public relations stunts.”