IDS: We'll cut tax later

Iain Duncan Smith said today that tax cuts under the Tories will have to wait until Britain's public services are back on their feet.

The Opposition leader attempted to clear up a potentially dangerous confusion over whether his party, if elected, would put better public services or less tax at the top of the agenda.

He said: "The priority, both for Conservative supporters and the British people, is that their public services are in a state the fourth largest economy should not have to put up with. The priority is to reform the system, get better delivery so we can improve the quality ... when you have done that, then you look at how you deal with the tax position."

The Conservative belief in lowering the tax burden as the first option was put on the back-burner by shadow chancellor Michael Howard soon after his appointment last year. Reports this week, however, suggested Mr Duncan Smith still wanted to put cuts at the heart of his agenda.

He told the BBC's Today programme: "Of course we want to see that tax base, at the end of the day, if we can, lowered. But first you have to reform the system."

A leaked report from Tory activists, meanwhile, says the party is failing to make a rapid enough impact under the new leader but acknowledges that he "grows quietly in strength" and believes he is "beginning to get more press coverage - looking all right." That view is increasingly reflected among Tory MPs.