Cameron promises tax cuts
David Cameron has promised tax changes to help firms avoid slashing their workforces in the economic downturn.
Insisting that the Conservatives would not allow joblessness to soar, the Tory leader's comments came after a speech to a Conservative women's conference in which he rejected the idea that mass unemployment was inevitable in a recession.
Challenged about prospective Tory tax cuts, he responded that measures to help businesses were imminent.
"Tomorrow we will be making a very clear announcement about some tax changes that actually will help to encourage businesses to take on workers and to keep workers," he said.
While people would have to "wait and see" for the details, he added: "We will help, we will put money back in people's pockets and we will say where it will come from."
It is thought that the proposals could involve scrapping National Insurance payments for new workers to make it easier for employers to take staff on.
The plans come as Gordon Brown is also hinting at tax cuts to help Britain out of recession.
With the latest figures showing numbers without work jumping by 164,000 to 1.79 million, Mr Cameron said redundancy fears were the biggest worry facing many households today.
Speaking to the Conservative Women's Organisation in Westminster, Mr Cameron rejected the argument that governments could do little to prevent unemployment in a recession.
"There's a certain approach to this which says that however painful this may be, large-scale unemployment is an unavoidable consequence of recession, that because it's the natural movement of the markets, all that Government can do is stand by and pick up the pieces," he said. "I am not one of those people. In fact, I wholly disagree. Today I want to say the Conservative Party will not stand aside and allow unemployment to claim livelihoods and ruin lives on a massive scale. We will not walk on by while people lose their jobs."
