Fairer taxes, not higher taxes - Cable

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Sep 2005

In his keynote speech to the Party's Autumn conference in Blackpool, Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, warned that "there will be no credibility whatsoever for the Party in promising to spend more than Labour. The only strategy that will make sense is to build on our pre-election approach of emphasising the need for tough choices."

On the Tax Commission, Vince Cable MP added:

"I believe our central message should be fairer taxes; not higher taxes."

"I am confident that it will produce a consensus behind a tax system that is simpler, more progressive, more decentralised, more environmentally focused - and that lifts many people on low incomes out of tax altogether."

He also warned of the imbalance in the economy caused by debt-fueled consumer spending:

"British families have acquired unprecedented levels of personal debt, in relation to their income.

"Personal debt, Gordon Brown's legacy to millions of families, will hang like a millstone around the neck of the British people for years to come."