No tax cuts under Tories

David Cameron has said there will be no instant tax cuts under a Conservative Government.

The Tory leader said a decade of Labour overspending meant there was "nothing left in the locker".

And Shadow Treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond said taxpayers would have to wait four years before they could expect a Tory Government to cut the cost of living.

The warning came as the Conservatives received an opinion poll boost, with one poll giving them a 16-point lead over Labour.

Surveys also showed the public had more faith in Mr Cameron and shadow Chancellor George Osborne to run the economy than Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling.

More than two thirds of voters said they wanted lower taxes, but Mr Cameron insisted immediate cuts would be impossible.

"We have to recognise, as an opposition, that if we win the next election, it will be tough and there will not be some large kitty of money to spend and we will have to say no a lot as well as, hopefully, being able to say yes to some of the things we want to do.

"The fact is the Government did not put away money in the good years. The cupboard is bare.

"I cannot sit here and promise we're going to cut the cost of living and make everything easier for Britain's families. But what we can do is say we will stop making it worse."

The 16-point Tory lead came in a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times which put the Conservatives on 43 per cent and saw Labour drop to a 25-year low of 27 per cent.

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