Cameron calls for savings tax cuts

4:26pm Monday 5th January 2009

• Play Video

Conservative leader David Cameron has called for the abolition of income tax on savings by basic-rate taxpayers.

And he said that pensioners' tax allowances should be raised by £2,000.

Mr Cameron said the Government could introduce the changes in its spring Budget, covering the estimated £5 billion cost by cutting back on state spending in 2009/10.

The Tory leader said the proposals formed part of the vision for a "good future" for Britain which his party will put forward at the next general election.

Mr Cameron also launched Conservative reports on measures to build the UK's 5% share in the growing market for environmentally-friendly technology, which he said provided "a road map of how Britain can be the world leader in green goods, services and companies".

He said that a Conservative government would do everything possible to ensure that the majority of the population has access to high-speed broadband links within five years, with universal access in a decade.

In a speech on the economy in London, Mr Cameron denounced the Government's response to the downturn as "economically stupid and morally indefensible" because it encouraged debt and undermined saving.

His measures to encourage saving could be achieved without affecting spending plans for the NHS, schools, defence or international development by restricting other Whitehall departments to a 1% real-terms increase, he said.

They would encourage the "really big change" required to transform Britain "from a spend, spend, spend society into a save, save, save society", he said.