Why families won't find life any easier under Tories, as Cameron rules out tax cuts for years

The Tory leader dampened expectations of tax cuts if he comes to power, warning that more than a decade of Labour had left "the cupboard bare".

"I cannot sit here and promise we're going to cut the cost of living and make everything easier for families," he said.

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David Cameron pictured with his family after he invited ITV cameras into his house last week

"But what we can do is say we will stop making it worse".

His bleak language set the tone for what some MPs fear is an attempt by the leadership to head off growing calls for a more robust line on tax.

It came as a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times found that 67per cent of people think the level of tax is too high, while 86 per cent believe their bills are rising faster than the government says.

Tory Right-wingers have been urging Mr Cameron to promise that he will cut the burden of the state.

But there was confusion last night over what voters can actually expect after a senior frontbencher was rebuked for making "pie in the sky" predictions about tax cuts.

Philip Hammond, Tory treasury spokesman, was slapped down for telling a Sunday newspaper that cuts would have to wait several years, until the Parliament after next.

His remarks appeared to rule out the prospect of Mr Cameron handing back cash to households in his first term.

Mr Hammond set out what looked like a two-term strategy that would see the Tories devote the next parliament to putting public finances in order.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has been at pains to hold out the prospect of tax cuts as part of his policy of "sharing the proceeds of growth".

But he has refused to say when they might happen.

Tory sources last night insisted Mr Hammond had not changed existing policy, which remains pledged to "affordable and sustainable tax cuts over the economic cycle" if the public finances allow.

In a rebuke to his deputy, a source close to Mr Osborne said cuts could come at any time, adding: "To predict there will or will not be cuts in the first four years is pie in the sky. It's not what we are saying."

The overarching message seemed to be that the dire state of the public finances under Labour has left it increasingly unlikely the Tories will be able to offer tax-cuts at the next election.

Mr Cameron said: "We have to recognise that if we win the next election it will be tough and there will not be some large kitty of money to spend.

"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."

He told BBC1's Politics Show: "The fact is the Government did not put away money in the good years. The cupboard is bare."

The Tory leader said the US had been able to offer tax cuts because it had a lower budget deficit.

He added: "If the Government had announced some big tax cut on Budget day, I think actually the markets would have taken fright, the currency would have fallen, that would have been bad for Britain.

"But the fact is, they should have been in a position where they could have done it."

• Business confidence in the state of the economy has fallen for the sixth month in a row, hitting a six-year low. A poll of more than 200 firms by Lloyds TSB showed that just over half were more pessimistic than three months ago.