Refuse pile of money, economical when Conservatives ditched (3-4)

I believe the answer is:

ash-heap

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'money economical when conservatives ditched' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'refuse pile' is the wordplay.
'refuse' becomes 'ash' (I've seen this in other clues).
'pile' becomes 'heap' (synonyms).
'ash'+'heap'='ASH-HEAP'

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for ash-heap that I've seen is " Pile of fire-refuse".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.