Tory tax cuts: A closer look

The Conservative Party has pledged tax cuts of £8bn

By BBC political correspondent Guto Harri

"It's a bit like taking candy from a kid." That's how one senior minister described the government's task of picking holes in the Conservative Party's latest proposals on tax.

There was one glaring gap which nobody could miss. The tax cuts promised amount to £8bn. The savings identified are said to be around £5bn.

That leaves £3bn which the Conservatives have to find long before a general election if their promises are to stand up to public scrutiny during a knockabout campaign.

Some regret that the party's Treasury team was not able to present a fuller picture before their leader went public. Then Labour's task would have been tougher.

It is clear the Tories are keen to make what they say is the strong "moral case" for lower taxes and hope that this is a message which will help them win public support.

Pots of money

But there were other difficult questions surrounding the rest of the package announced on Tuesday. The clampdown on fraud and bureaucracy was one.

Every opposition promises to address them, and most governments make some progress. But finding big pots of money has proved an elusive task to many strong willed and intelligent secretaries of state.

If William Hague managed it he'd be rightly applauded. But best find all the money first perhaps, before even suggesting offering the public a tax giveaway.

Another potential gift to the party's opponents was to suggest savings of around £200m could be found by abandoning plans for English regional assemblies.

As Labour was quick to point out, none exist and no legislation has been introduced to create them.

Budget speculation

What government ministers won't say is whether or not taxes could be cut without the savings which the Conservatives have been so desperate to find.

Some distinguished commentators suggest that the Treasury will have enough money at the end of the year to meet all its spending commitments and cut taxes by a few billion.

Yet it suits nobody to make that point.

Conservatives can hardly credit Labour with running the economy so well that the tax cuts they advocate really are affordable.

At the same time, Labour could not admit that this is the case without depriving themselves of the chance to frighten the public with the prospect of deep Tory cuts in key services.

Neither will they rule out cutting taxes themselves in the run-up to a general election.

"As you know", said one minister, "we never speculate on the contents of the budget."