The tax debate

The Conservative leadership has the right approach to tax policy. Make no mistake they understand and favour low taxes. They have said so repeatedly. Indeed at the Conservative Party Conference;

David Cameron "Everyone in this hall, me included, knows that a low tax economy is a strong economy."

George Osbourne "Sound money is the only sustainable path to lower taxes. It is also the bedrock upon which we will build simpler, flatter, and fairer taxes."

What they aren't going to do is make specific pledges with 3 years to go before the election. This is eminently sensible and conservative. What seems to irritates some Conservatives is the current mantra that they will put "stability before tax cuts".

It partly irritates them because they fail to recognise the distiction that it is "before" rather than "instead of".

But it mostly irritates them though because the message isn't for them - it's for the public.

The public to be reassurred that we won't screw up the economy and for the last eight years Conservative economis policy has focused on dramatic tax cuts that opened us up to political attacks and worried too many voters.

It's a message that for Conservatives goes without saying - obviously we don't expect a Conservative governemnt to screw up the economy - so for some they read more into the mantra than is there. They shouldn't worry.