MobileInfluential Tory MP suggests change of tactic on spending row
14:56 | Insider Research
There is a problem here for the Conservatives over public spending, as it is an assumption for the public that the Conservatives will be tougher on spending, better on taxes.
That is why no amount of Cameron rhetoric will shift this in the public’s mind. The public will always assume that Labour will cut back less than the Tories.
The Conservatives should now be shifting the debate to the level of taxes in the future. It is here that there is a trap for Labour. Because Brown, Balls and Harman have been talking about upper rate tax filling the gap between revenues and expenditure, the critical question for the Conservatives to ask is about the level of taxes under Labour.
The level of borrowing is set to rise to incredible levels unprecedented in peacetime. Any economist knows that taxes cannot cover the gap and that spending will have to fall significantly. Some reports talk of £60bn a year from 2013 rising to £100bn in 2019/20. It will become very clear to everyone that not just the upper rate tax will rise, but all taxes.
This puts Labour on the horns of a dilemma: to talk up tax as they have been doing allows the Conservatives to 'calculate' how high taxes will rise on everyone; that will force Labour to deny this and that in turn leads them straight back to spending...