Tories drop promise of lower taxes

The Conservatives will no longer promise to cut taxes if victorious after the next general election.

Instead the shadow chancellor said lower overall taxes would have to become a "long-term ambition" of the next Conservative government.

In a move that risks putting the party leadership at odds with its grassroots, George Osborne said he "cannot make a promise at the election that there will be a big reduction in the tax burden or that there will be big cuts".

Speaking to BBC Radio he said: "I may well inherit the situation if the people vote Conservative…where we have big borrowing figures to deal with.

"My long-term commitment as a Conservative to people is that I will do everything I can to reduce their tax burden."

Borrowing a line from Alistair Darling, he said stability would be his first priority.

"It is my ambition to reduce taxes on families and businesses. But the soundness of the public finances must come first," Mr Osborne said.

But the influential Tory blog ConservativeHome called on Mr Osborne to make a commitment to lower overall taxes.

Editor Tim Montgomerie said David Cameron remained "incredibly popular" with the grassroots but they do want a tax cut.

Speaking to the Today programme, he said this could be achieved if the Tories dropped their pledge to match government spending until 2011.

"This is just one of the key tensions at the moment over strategy," Mr Montgomerie said.

"By three to one in a survey that we have just completed, the grassroots are saying stop matching Labour spending and find some room for tax cuts for businesses and for families."