LABOUR and Tories clashed over tax today in a desperate Dutch auction over which party is being more conservative with public finances.

Shadow treasury secretary Darren Jones claimed that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had been caught making unfunded pledges after appearing to concede that manifesto promises on welfare cuts had been previously announced and therefore could not resource the national insurance cuts which are central to the Tory re-election campaign.

Mr Hunt had written in a letter to his Surrey constituents stating: “We have too many people out of work on benefits when it would be much better for them, for the economy and for taxpayers if they were back in work.”