DAVID Cameron and George Osborne are "Johnny-come-latelies" to tax cuts for the low paid, Nick Clegg insists as he attacks the Tories for only wanting to reward people at the top.
Seeking to place the Liberal Democrats between the rock of the Conservatives and the hard place of Labour, the Deputy Prime Minister claims the conferences of his rivals have simply gone to underline the Lib Dems' "greater commitment to fairness" than the Tories, whom, he says, have singled out the working age poor for greater sacrifices with a real-terms benefit cut, while Labour has shown its "wholly flaky approach" to dealing with the deficit.
Mr Clegg was speaking to The Herald ahead of the party's conference in Glasgow this weekend.
Asked if he was bothered by the Prime Minister and Chancellor stealing the Lib Dems' clothes on raising the tax-free personal allowance to £12,500, Mr Clegg declares: "The Tories are Johnny-come-lately to tax cuts. They resisted the lifting of the allowance year after year. Who are they kidding?
"I have sat in meetings constantly with David Cameron and George Osborne where they have labelled the lifting of the allowance as 'your tax cut and if you want it, you're going to have give us something back'.
"I don't think anyone is readily fooled not least when you consider what they want to do in addition is give higher rate taxpayers four or five times the tax cuts than those on lower incomes. Whereas our longer term ambition is not only to lift the allowance to £12,500 but, where resources allow, to align National Insurance with that allowance; which is far fairer than what the Conservatives want."
Mr Clegg is scathing about what he calls is the Tories' "desperate lurch towards unfunded pledges".
"It's like promising the moon on a stick without a price tag. Everybody knows there's no such thing as a free lunch now and someone has to pay. The Tories only really want to reward people at the top."
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