Ken Clarke hints at rise in taxes under a Tory government

Published on Sunday 3 January 2010 21:38

FORMER Tory chancellor Ken Clarke has suggested that the Conservatives could raise taxes to pay for Britain's deficit.

The shadow business secretary strayed outside his brief yesterday to say it would be a "folly" for the Conservatives to rule out a hike in taxes such as VAT, which went up by 2.5 per cent on Friday.

He referred to Britain as the most indebted nation in the western world, as he said that no government could responsibly pledge to freeze taxes when faced with such dire public finances.

His intervention will irk shadow chancellor George Osborne, who has struggled to maintain a grip on his Treasury portfolio.

Mr Clarke said tax increases were "something that every Conservative tries to avoid, but I didn't avoid it when I was getting us out of recession before (in the 1990s]. Coming out of a recession when you have such a severe deficit, you can't rule out putting up taxes.

"If you can't get it down quickly enough, in order to maintain the confidence of the markets and to create conditions for growth and employment, then you may have to look at tax increases."

Mr Clark spoke out in advance of the launch today by David Cameron of a chapter of the Conservative manifesto for this year's election.

Mr Cameron will unveil plans to give mothers "real choice" over the kind of childbirth and other services they want.

Mr Cameron will say that his administration would divert a higher share of NHS resources to boost health in run-down areas.

It would also introduce "maternity networks", which would link community-based maternity units with more specialist hospital care.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "We will stop Labour's forced closure of maternity units, increase the number of health visitors and – by making money follow the patient – give every mother the choice and support they need."