Tories furious at 'ignorant' attack on £21bn tax cuts

The Tories attacked 'ignorant' Chancellor Alistair Darling for claiming Mr Cameron wants to slash taxes for the rich by £21billion.

Labour hit back by stating that Mr Cameron is secretly planning massive rises in 'green taxes' affecting families, including a 50 per cent increase in petrol prices.

And the Tories countered by targeting 'pathetic' figures drawn up by Mr Darling's deputy, Treasury Chief Secretary Andy Burnham, who has only an O-level in mathematics.

The war of words is the latest evidence that both parties are preparing for an early General Election.

It follows a call for far-reaching cuts in taxes, including death duties, in a Conservative report by former Minister John Redwood.

The report did not put a figure on the total tax-cutting package – and said the cuts would be paid for by increasing so-called 'green taxes'.

Labour claimed Mr Cameron – who is due back at his Westminster office tomorrow after his holiday in France – was planning a tax bonanza for the rich, and that the only way to pay for it was by huge increases in taxes on motorists, home-owners and holidaymakers or swingeing cuts in public services.

Mr Redwood savaged Mr Darling for touring television studios to denounce the Conservatives instead of dealing with the stock market crash.

'Mr Darling reveals his economic ignorance by telling the nation of the damage that will be done by "taking £21billion out of the economy".

Whatever does he mean by that? The £21billion stays firmly in the economy – it is just that the Government does not get its hands on it.'

Mr Redwood added: 'It was strange to see the Chancellor out and about on the media when we are in the throes of a very serious financial crisis.

You might have expected him to be working behind the scenes with the Bank of England and US Treasury instead of being preoccupied by old-fashioned party politics.'

Mr Burnham published his own estimate of the £21billion package of Tory 'green taxes', claiming they would add £35 to average domestic monthly fuel bills, add £35,000 to a £200,000 new home, put a litre of petrol up by 28p, double vehicle excise duty to £230 and raise taxes on a return flight to Florida for a family of four to £1,000.

Mr Burnham said: 'David Cameron needs to come back from his holiday with some honest answers about his tax plans.

'Either he is planning the most incredible set of green tax increases on ordinary families or he must admit the only way they can be paid for is by massive cuts in frontline public services. Which is it, Mr Cameron?'

But the Tories seized on Mr Burnham's admission on BBC2's Newsnight that he had not read the Conservative report.

Mr Redwood accused Mr Burnham of 'preposterous posing' and said he was 'incapable of understanding compound arithmetic', adding: 'This pathetic response to a serious piece of work shows utter desperation at Labour HQ.'

Writing in today's Mail on Sunday, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne says Labour is 'rattled'.

He adds: 'It just shows how scared they are of a proper debate about taxes such as inheritance tax...That discussion would be helped if Treasury Minister Andy Burnham, put up to talk about the report, had actually read it.

In a dismal performance on the BBC's Newsnight on Friday evening he was forced to admit that he hadn't even done that. Well, that is not good enough.'

Mr Osborne also denied claims that he tried to backtrack on the plan to curb inheritance tax, which he condemns as 'an unfair tax on aspiration'. His remarks are seen as a clear signal that abolishing it will be one of the first acts of an incoming Conservative government.