Lib Dems claim Tories will have to make cuts to meet tax pledges

Nick Clegg has said that the Conservative party have no way to meet their tax pledges on raising the personal allowance to £12,500 without doing "what Tories do best - cut."

Speaking in London the Liberal Democrat leader said George Osborne tax pledges will cost £7.2 billion. He said his party want to: "cut taxes for working people paid for by the wealthiest. The Conservatives want to cut taxes for the wealthiest paid for by the poorest."

A row over tax has blown up between coalition partners, as Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg claimed the Tories of constantly pushing for tax cuts for the rich whilst in government.

Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives threw accusations at one another, each claiming the other party had secret plans for tax rises.

ITV News deputy political editor Chris Ship reports:

David Cameron has said Britain "would pay a heavy price" if Labour wins the General Election in May.

The Prime Minister told an audience in Bristol that the price would start "with your pay packet".

"The choice at the next election is clearer than ever ... tax cuts with us, tax rises with Ed Miliband and Labour."

Nick Clegg has mocked the Conservatives for trying to claim credit for the latest retirement and tax allowance measures.

The Liberal Democrat leader said: "Have you ever worked with someone who tries to pass off your good ideas as their own?

"That's what it very much feels like with the Conservatives, certainly when it comes to tax."

Clegg continued, "All of those changes, which all come into effect right now - today and this week - are changes that only happen because the Liberal Democrats went into government."

Labour has unveiled a new General Election poster with the claim that under a Conservative government "millions pay more, millionaires pay less".

Labour's Treasury spokesman Ed Balls launched the poster, citing figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that suggest families are an average £1,100 worse-off as a result of tax and benefit changes under the coalition Government.

David Cameron has said the Conservatives will "keep on cutting taxes to reward hard work".

The Prime Minister wrote on Twitter:

Ed Balls has blasted the Conservative tax cuts, saying the numbers did not add up and that the public could not trust the party on VAT rise promises.

Mr Balls claimed the Tories had repeatedly claimed there would no VAT rises before previous elections before voting to rise the amount of tax paid on purchases.

Speaking in Leeds the Labour's shadow chancellor outlined Labour's tax pledges: "No rise in VAT, no rise in National Insurance, no rise in the basic and higher rates of income tax, but we will have a lower starting rate of income tax at 10p and we'll put the top rate up to 50% for people earning £150,000."

The Liberal Democrats promised to go "further and faster" on raising personal tax allowances, after Chancellor George Osborne refused to rule out cutting the top rate of income tax to 40p in the next parliament.

The Lib Dems - who claim they had to push the Conservatives into accepting rises in allowances at a succession of coalition budgets and accused their former coalition partners of "unbelievable cheek" for trying to take credit for the policy - are expected to unveil more radical proposals this week.

Education Minister David Laws said the proposals will be high on the agenda "before even the first cup of coffee has been served" should the Lib Dems be part of coalition talks after May 7th.

"The Liberal Democrats... would want to go far faster than the existing trajectory for increasing the personal tax allowance," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.