Tories to unveil 'low tax' strategy

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The radical plans to slash £14bn a year in red tape has been drawn up by Thatcherite former Cabinet minister John Redwood for party leader David Cameron.

While the leadership is not obliged to adopt the whole package, which Mr Redwood dubbed "a tax cut by any other name", it appears set to endorse its main thrust.

Mr Osborne, who is due to help launch the report on Friday, said it "shows how we can deliver a low-tax, lower regulation, competitive economy with the right transport links and skills and pensions arrangements that Britain needs in the 21st century".

But the proposals, including moves to scrap European Union workers' protection laws, data protection and review health and safety legislation, came under fire from Labour and trades unions.

Cabinet ministers seized on the report as proof of a shift to the right by the beleaguered leader aimed at quelling Tory traditionalist dissent over his modernising agenda.

Business Secretary John Hutton said: "Any claim they've got to be a party of the centre ground now looks completely hollow and ridiculous."

He said he would "relish" the chance to go to the polls against the Tories who "have now become even more right wing than they were under William Hague and Michael Howard".

His comments came amid increased speculation that Gordon Brown could call a snap general election after moving into a 10-point opinion poll lead.

But Mr Redwood, who described the five-year programme as a "tax cut by any other name", insisted his "creative and enterprising" proposals would benefit the whole country and would be "extremely helpful to those who need some help up in life".