Tory chief dismisses tax cuts call

12 April 2012

Tory leader David Cameron has dismissed calls for "pie in the sky" tax cuts.

Mr Cameron, in his closing speech to the Conservative conference in Bournemouth, also warned of green taxes to come and launched a stinging attack on Tony Blair's Government.

He said he would question the approach of the White House on foreign policy and insisted he would be "a British prime minister pursuing a British foreign policy".

Mr Cameron told representatives: "I want to deal directly with this issue of substance. Substance is not about producing a 10-point plan - it is about deeper things than that.

"It is about knowing what you believe, it is about a clear idea of the Britain you want to see. For us, that Britain is based on the idea of social responsibility.

"I don't think that announcing policies in a rush amounts to substance. Real substance is about taking time to think things through, not trotting out easy answers that people might want to hear.

"It's about sticking to your guns. It's about character, judgment and consistency."

Mr Cameron addressed right-wing critics calling for tax cuts head on, saying: "Let's talk about tax. Everyone in this hall, me included, knows that a low tax economy is a strong economy. But some people want me to flash up some pie in the sky tax cuts to show what we stand for.

"Let me tell you straight. That is not substance and that is not what we stand for.

"Do you know what I think? I think that, when some people talk about substance, what they mean is they want the old policies back. Well, they're not coming back. We're not going back."

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