Labour today launched a fightback against David Cameron’s promise of massive tax cuts, accusing the Prime Minister of failing to explain how they could be afforded.
Mr Cameron woke to some of the most favourable Fleet Street headlines of his career this morning, with his promised £7.2 billion giveaway praised in Tory-leaning newspapers as “inspirational” and “stirring”.
However, the influential Financial Times struck a jarring note with a leading article that accused the Conservatives of trading “votes for economic credibility”. It argued that he had “staked out a fiscal position that is neither sober nor realistic”.
The latest opinion poll showed the Conservatives seven points behind. The YouGov tracker in The Sun, taken before the speech, showed Labour on 38 per cent to the Tories’ 31.
Chris Leslie, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, claimed: “Twenty four hours after David Cameron’s speech it’s staggering that not a single Minister can tell us where any of the money is coming from.
“Where will they find this £7 billion? Will they raise VAT on families and pensioners again?”
He recalled that before the 2010 election Mr Cameron said tax cuts should not be promised “unless you can show how it is paid for, the public aren’t stupid”.
Echoing one of Mr Cameron’s favourite campaign slogans from 2010, Mr Leslie commented: “He’s clearly now taking the British people for fools.”
In his keynote address to the Conservative conference yesterday, Mr Cameron promised to increase the tax-free earnings limit to £12,500, taking a million people out of income tax. He also vowed to lift the threshold of the 40p higher rate of income tax to £50,000, cutting bills for 800,000 higher earners.
Labour said working families on lower pay would end up worse off because of Tory plans to freeze benefits including tax credits. However, the PM himself earning £142,500 a year would gain £132.
A Tory source hit back: “We will not take lectures on economic credibility from Ed Miliband who forgot to mention the deficit.
“Judge us on our record: We have already reduced the deficit by half since 2010 and increased the personal allowance by over four thousand pounds.”
Nick Clegg accused the PM of stealing Liberal Democrat policy of raising the tax-free allowance, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
He admitted that Mr Cameron’s conference speech had been “well delivered” but said it confirmed that the Tories would attack the working poor and decimate public services.
