COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The Conservatives cannot give a "blanket assurance" that there will be no tax rises after the next election but would like to cut them when the economy is stronger, David Cameron has said.



The Prime Minister said he could give not promises on the issue, even though George Osborne, the Chancellor, said last week taxes will not need to rise after the next election to fill a £25 billion black-hole in the public finances.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Cameron said he wants to start cutting taxes as he starts to see the economy improve.

However, he said the Government could not give a comprehensive pledge that no taxes would go up.

A few days ago, Mr Osborne said “the path of fiscal consolidation” could be completed through cuts in expenditure by the Government and not increasing taxes.

Asked about the Chancellor's comments, Mr Cameron said: What George said, and what he’s absolutely right about, is that our plans, that are set out and announced and show there’s further need for spending reductions in order to meet our deficit targets, they don’t include any plans for tax rises. And, you know, I think we’ve got the balance right."

His comments that there are no "plans" for tax rises do not amount to a promise that they will not happen. “No prime minister, no government can ever give a blanket assurance about every single thing under the sun," he said. "I’ve made very specific promises as leader of the opposition and as prime minister and I’ve tried to keep those promises. I made promises about pensioner benefits, I kept those promises; I made promises about the aid budget,

I kept that promise. Before the last election, I was very clear with people we’re going to have to make some difficult cuts and difficult decisions.”

However, Mr Cameron appeared to sound a positive note about the chances of some taxes being cut.

“I’m a Conservative, I’m a low-tax Conservative," he said. "I think as we start to see the economy healing – and it is healing; as we start to see the economy growing stronger – and it is going stronger; as you start to see the country improve, actually I want to give people back some of their hard-earned money and reduce their taxes.

"That is what drives me as a Conservative. I think your economy does better if you say to people: you’ve worked hard, you’ve done the right thing, here is some of your own money back in a tax reduction."

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that millions of middle-class workers face stealth tax rises worth £600 each after the next election to fill a £25 billion hole in the Government’s finances.

The leading economists said the Government could have to raise £10billion from tax increases because of the difficulty in finding deeper spending reductions on top of the £11.5billion-worth of cuts announced in last month’s 2015/16 spending round.

However, senior Tories have been moving to dispel this idea, arguing the gap can be closed through reducing expenditure.

He said: “That is my Budget book and I stand by it and I think this can be delivered through spending and savings both in welfare and in departments, and there is no need for tax rises to contribute to that fiscal consolidation.”