Cameron faces backlash over 'vote loser' parking tax plan

The Tory leader was inundated with attacks on his website after a Conservative policy group said families should pay a tax to park at out-of-town shopping developments to help curb pollution and save small high street shops.

And he failed to silence the clamour by refusing to rule out such a move under a Tory government.

UNDER ATTACK: David Cameron finds himself at the centre of parking tax storm

Mr Cameron said he could 'understand the pressures that families feel in getting the weekly shop done' but said action was needed to save the 'dying' high street.

The issue overshadowed the announcement of plans by the same policy group, led by millionaire ecowarrior Zac Goldsmith and former Environment Secretary John Gummer, for council tax discounts for families who recycle rubbish.

Mr Cameron has been bracing himself for a backlash to the report, which proposes a raft of green taxes and other environmental measures.

It will be published in full tomorrow.

But the storm will raise fresh fears over his judgment.

It was all the more embarrassing because the main focus for the attacks was Mr Cameron's personal website, webcameron.org.

One critic wrote: "The Eton Twit Throws the Next Election."

Roger Helmer, Conservative MEP for the East Midlands, wrote on his own website that the proposals left him 'hopping mad', adding: "More taxes. More complex tax allowances. More regulation. More quangos. More nanny-State."

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CRITICS: How Mr Cameron's critics reacted on his website

Nadine Dorries, Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, wrote on her blog that she was asked on radio about charging shoppers for using supermarket car parks.

She said: "The interviewer was banging on about how it was a 'no brainer' a 'vote loser'. It was awful. I felt sick."

Mr Cameron failed to rule out the plan during a live 'web chat' with The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

He said: "On the specific proposal . . . I fully understand the pressures that families feel in getting the weekly shop done and don't want to make that more difficult.

"But . . . we need to think about what is happening in some of our towns where the high streets are dying and where out-of-town stores have been given an advantage."