Leader of the Conservatives David Cameron this week challenged Gordon Brown to "stop dithering" and call a general election as the Tories unveiled their radical tax-cut plans ahead of an important party conference in Blackpool. The conservatives will go into the election with a manifesto promising to abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes which are worth up to £250,000. The party claims that for about 285,000 first time buyers, the levy will not have to be paid saving an average of £2000. Sweet music for the ears of prospective homeowners who have been frozen out by the steep house price rises in recent years.
Other treats announced by Cameron included plans to hand out family tax breaks, which would end the benefits issue that, Tories claim, penalize parents for staying together. According to the party, about 1.8m families raising children would be £2000 a year better off. The £3 billion measures would be funded with a crackdown on "workshy" benefits claimants and "strict" penalties for those who turn down jobs.
Cameron said that the tax break was an example of the party's key themes of the week, "giving people more opportunity, power and control over their lives".
Of course, in order for tax-cuts to occur, either sacrifices have to be made in other sectors of government spending, or new taxes and regulations will have to be imposed to fund the plans. So far Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne has said cuts would be paid for with a fee charged to business people who register abroad for tax purposes. This invoked a response made by the Lib Dems accusing him of making "unfunded commitments" while Labour said his calculations were wrong.
Keen to score political points in a feverish time of speculation, Cameron gleefully pointed out that under a Tory government "only millionaires will pay inheritance tax"; the raising of this threshold to £1m is designed to catch the votes of the worried homeowners whose inflated house values have pushed them over the current £300,000 threshold. Mr.Osbourne added detail to the effect that the £3.1bn cost of increasing the inheritance tax threshold and the £400m cost for scrapping stamp duty would be funded by imposing a £25,000 per year charge on non-domicile taxpayers. This announcement has been greeted with scorn by the chancellor, Alistar Darling, who casts doubts upon the figures used to calculate the numbers able for such a change.
Interestingly absent from the Tories' framed agenda, was any serious mention of "green" taxes. Traditional conservatives might take comfort from this but comentators may well be puzzled at this apparent neglect on the part of a leader who has been so recently known to promote himself either by sledging on the tundra or cycling to work (with attendant staff car).
Of course, the elephant in the room in all policy discussions is the enigmatic reluctance of Gordon Brown to commit himself one way or the other over a "snap" election. Have the Tories just fallen into an enormous elephant trap by revealing specific policies which Labour can either steal or ridicule? Or, have they boldy fired the first shots in an energetic campaign designed to flush out Brown from No.10?
All that can be said is that time is ticking for Brown, if an election is to be called. The most likely dates would be in early November, after a poll in October was ruled out following a clash with school half-term holidays. Will he delay the elections or will he rise to the challenge? The next two weeks shall provide an answer.
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