Beware the 'bribes of March'

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Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin have appealed to the voters of Britain not to fall for the pre-election bribes expected in Gordon Brown's March Budget.

Speaking on the eve of the Chancellor's Commons statement, the Conservative Leader and the Shadow Chancellor warned that another giveaway package was likely to be followed by more stealth tax increases if Tony Blair leads Labour into a third term after the forthcoming general election.



Standing before a display of newspaper headlines relating to Mr Brown's financial statements before and after the 2002 election, Mr Howard told journalists: "You can see that Mr Blair has form when it comes to cutting taxes before elections and raising them afterwards."

He highlighted how before he came to power in 1997 Mr Blair said he had no plans to increase taxes at all, while in Labour's first Budget, tax levies went up by almost £8 billion. And Mr Howard said: "Before the 2001 election Mr Blair said we shouldn't assume he planned to put up National Insurance contributions…but in 2002 his Government put up NI contributions for both employers and employees."

Mr Howard added: "There has been only one Budget which contained no tax increases in the last eight years - and that was the 2001 election Budget."

The Conservative leader rammed home the point when he added: "But the 2002 Budget, the first after the election, was their biggest tax increasing Budget to date. The question is not will Labour raise taxes, but which taxes will they raise?"



According to Mr Howard National Insurance, the basic rate of Income Tax, Capital Gains on domestic properties, and VAT on food are all contenders.

Meanwhile, Mr Letwin insisted that the Chancellor's Budget changes would not affect Conservative spending plans. Whatever the arithmetic, Labour would still spend £12 billion a year more than a Conservative government would spend by 2007-2008.

Mr Letwin argued that if elected into power, a Conservative administration would use £8 billion of the savings to fill the "black hole" left in the public finances by Labour, while the remaining £4 billion would be used for reducing taxation.

The Conservatives declared: "The choice at the next election will be the same the day after the Budget as it was the day before the Budget: value for money and lower taxes with the Conservatives or more waste and higher taxes under Mr Blair."