S_w203
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 Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:42 am Post subject: Cameron rules out tax cut pledge |
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Cameron rules out tax cut pledge
David Cameron is not expected to make tax pledges at conference
David Cameron has delivered a sharp rebuke to those in his party calling for a commitment to cut taxes.
The Conservative leader told BBC One's Sunday AM: "I can't say to the British people here are some up-front tax cuts which we haven't found how to fund".
He added: "Those people who say they want tax cuts and they want them now - they can't have them."
Mr Cameron was speaking as the Conservatives gather in Bournemouth for their annual conference.
The Conservative leader is expected to tell the gathering in a speech later that Tories must lay a "solid foundation" of principles before detailing policies.
He will set out the "unifying idea" he wants to see running through Conservative policies.
Mr Cameron told Sunday AM: "What we need is a revolution in social responsibility - giving power to parents, to teachers, to the people working in hospitals and also in local government as well.
"You know, we are far too centralised as a country. So let's see some civic responsibility, let's drive down responsibility to local authorities. So that's a unifying idea."
Pressure
The Conservatives' Tax Reform Commission set up last year under previous leader Michael Howard is expected to call for £20bn in tax cuts - mainly in income and inheritance tax - when it reports next month.
The commission, chaired by Lord Forsyth, is reported to have come under pressure from Shadow Chancellor George Osborne to water down its proposals.
The party's policy chief, Oliver Letwin, has repeatedly suggested a Tory government would not rush to cut taxes.
"I don't ever see us as putting economic stability at risk by making promises about tax cuts until we know we can prudently fulfil them," he told the BBC's Straight Talk programme
Tim Montgomerie, editor of the Conservative Home website and ex chief of staff to former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, said tax rates remained one of the key issues Mr Cameron needed to address.
He said: "People are willing to give David Cameron the benefit of the doubt for the moment, but hopefully next year we will see a beginning of signs of a commitment to lower taxation."
Weblog
US Senator John McCain, one of the frontrunner to secure the Republican nomination for 2008, is due to address the Conservative conference later.
Mr McCain, who compared Mr Cameron to John F Kennedy in an interview with The Spectator magazine, said he had met the Tory leader for the first time this week, but was "excited" by what he was trying to achieve.
"I'm excited and thrilled to see this new generation of leadership coming up and by the way I know they'll make mistakes, we all do when we're just moving in to those kinds of situations but fresh blood, enthusiasm, conservative principles...I'm excited about this group," he told Sunday AM.
On Saturday Mr Cameron launched his own video weblog, Webcameron.org, to try to get his message across to young people. |
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