ED Miliband has called on the Conservatives to "stop defending the indefensible" and match Labour's pledge to strip wealthy individuals of their "non-dom" tax break status.

But David Cameron insisted the Opposition's plan was in "chaos" after Conservative HQ pointed out how in January Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, had suggested abolition could cost the country more than it raised as rich people left the UK.

Yet the Labour leader once again portrayed the row as his party defending the interests of ordinary workers and the Tories promoting the interests of the super-rich.

On the campaign trail in the West Midlands, Mr Miliband said: "What we have seen during the course of today is Conservative Ministers trying to throw up a smokescreen to hide the truth; that they are defending non-dom status.

"They are defending privileges to the rich and powerful which other people don't get," declared the party leader, adding: "That is one of the central truths of this election; while we tackle tax avoidance, they will defend tax avoidance."

Earlier, Mr Miliband dismissed fears of an exodus of wealth and insisted that it was not only morally right to stop the UK operating as a "tax haven" for the super-rich but the reforms could also raise "at least hundreds of millions of pounds".

However, George Osborne said Mr Balls had been right three months ago when he warned abolition would hit public funds but also claimed Labour's plans amounted to a minor "tinkering" that would, in effect, change little.

The Chancellor pointed out how Labour's proposed exemptions for those staying temporarily in the UK - which Mr Balls said should be defined as around three or four years - meant "the majority of non-doms are not affected at all". It is estimated there are around 116,000 non-doms in Britain.

Meantime, the Prime Minister said Labour appeared "frankly pretty chaotic; on the one hand saying they want to get rid of non-dom status and on the other saying that if they did so it would cost the country money".

He added: "This goes to a bigger issue, which is when you see such confusion over a policy like this, are these people really capable or competent of running an economy? People will conclude no, they are not."

But later Mr Balls insisted the Tories had "edited" his words from January in a bid to mislead people deliberately because they could not defend their own refusal to act on tax avoidance.

"They have dropped the part of my interview where on non-domicile rules I say: 'We can be tougher and we should be and we will.'

"That is exactly what we have proposed; ending a situation where people permanently living in the UK year after year can claim non-domicile status to reduce their tax bills and play by different rules to everyone else," added the Shadow Chancellor.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said his party would 'look at whether there's a case for ending non-dom status after a certain period of time.'

Non-doms are around 116,000 people who are "non-domiciled" in the UK for tax purposes because they have their permanent home abroad.

British-born people can be classed as non-doms, inheriting their status from their father.

They can opt to pay tax only on income brought into Britain and pay none on their earnings or capital gains outside the country.

XREF LEADER COMMENT