No mention here of raising the tax thresholds which have not risen in lined with inflation or earnings therefore is another stealth tax. No mention of help reducing council tax for pensioners on fixed incomes or removing the anomoly of the reducing allowance of £1 for every £2 of income in excess of £20,900 for the over 65's.

At least with inheritance tax, it is paid by those who usually have done nothing to earn it in the first place and is therefore easier to accept.

Tax needs to be seen to be fair.

T McCall, Argyll, Scotland

The public are, obviously, unaware of the fact that the availability of easy money at low rates created by the Fed and the Bank of England - with the money supply increasing at 15% to 20% p.a. - has led to an unprecedented inflation in asset prices that has manifested itself in the nonsensical prices paid for companies and property. A correction is now overdue - in other words - a severe crash is required in both the stock market and the property market. The latter will re-establish a proper relationship between incomes and property prices and render huge building programmes superfluous, as the supply of houses at more "normal" prices will be significantly increased.

LW Keller, Downpatrick, UK

Yawn... Think i'll vote for the monster raving looney party (no i don't mean New Labour or New Conservative). We are all tired of the smoke and mirrors stuff, Deckchairs, Titanic etc. etc.
Seems to be the fashion in Politics now that Manifesto commitments are no longer honoured anyway.
"White man he speak with forked tongue!, many Moons".

Simon, Leeds, U.K.

It is only a deplorable state that seeks to return failed asylym seekers to a country where inflation is 5000% and where civil war is looming , and where death is a certainity if one was politically connected. Dear editor, it is time to raise the issues of asylum seekers here in the United Kingdom,especially those from Zimbabwe. Most don't want to get benefits , they want to work and live a normal life just like everyone else, but our dear Home Office deals with them like they were terrorists, murderers. In fact these so called terrorists seem to have more rights than asylum seekers. One such asylum seeker was told he had no right to family life, article 8 of Human Rights law, yet he has a wife living here and a daughter born here, and almost half of his family living here as well.. now is that not family life???? It is time that we took its case on its own merit and stop painting everyone with the same brush,,,Home office,,please be democratic and show reason and sense,,

Tinashe Zhou, coventry, united kingdom

Unfortunately our memories of Tory Government is that they managed to screw up public services without any decrease in taxes - the overall tax take was higher when Major left office than when Thatcher started - not least because they spent billions on keeping 3 million unemployed for years to help them smash the unions. Now they say increases in one area will lead to cuts elsewhere - so spell out where exactly the cuts will fall please, so we have a real choice, without resorting to hoary old "efficiency savings" - which mean job cuts. And make sure people know that any Tory tax cuts will only benefit the rich, for example by inheritance tax and corporation tax cuts.

Stewart, London,

Why doesn't Mr. Osborne never use his real christian name, Gideon ? Gideon is such a wonderful name. Are the Tories so interested in vacuous rebranding that they now feel the need to conceal their true identities in favour of trendy replacements ?
Stop chasing cheap headlines and promising us the earth and trying to have it both ways.

Anthony Gerard, London,

Young George: "The objective is a government that is less intrusive, promotes social responsibility and so gives its citizens greater control of their lives."

Oh dear. A course in demographics with Prof David Coleman and IQ and productivity with Prof Richard Lynn might just reveal the small problem in lil' George's expectations for Britain's "citizens".

As for globalisation and "China-Tony from Liverpool", the state-directed wage for manual labourers in China has just been increased ... to 45 pence/hour. Do you really think we fat, greedy, protected Brits want to "compete internationally". I mean, what are the circumstances that would cause your employer's to re-relocate to sunny Toxteth? A reduction in the minimum wage to 40 pence per hour?

Ah, but then we run up against the orderly and productive nature of the Chinese worker. I know, let's ask more of them to come and live here. Perhaps we could send them some Africans

Guessedworker, Lewes, Sussex

When did economic stability become synonymous with not cutting taxes and maintaining/increasing public spending?

Our tax burden has risen in recent years, rightly or wrongly, but if proponents of maintaining taxes were right, a 100% marginal tax rate with commensurate levels of public spending would equate to total economic stability, which is clearly an absurd proposition.

Osborne is actually on a lose-lose combination that loses my vote. If the economy does not turn down, he is unlikely to remove Labour from power, but if the economy does turn down, his policy is identical to that of Labour and he therefore has no viable alternative to offer.

Not liking Labour is not a reason to vote Conservative. By adopting Labour policies (it is not vice versa), the Conservative Party does not make itself attractive to anyone who finds Labour unattractive. The Conservative Party should be trying to carve out an identity of its own, not copying remedial Labour polices.

Christian, Cambridge, UK

The only problem with this entire argument is that the better public services requires a motivated and slimmed-down civil service that has to work for its living, and such a beast has never existed in the history of this plant. Can Mr Osborne tell us how he intends to outmaneouvre the very "work" force on which he depends for the implementation of these policies? I think not. I don't want a policy that gambles on a suitable "economic cycle" that is never properly defined (Brown's clearly isn't). I want a promise that I'll pay less tax for a smaller government payroll. The you get my vote Mr Osborne.

KR, Stockport,

Of course you can have lower tax and better services. The low tax just comes from avoiding the monumental mistakes - like the £500m tax credit one on the front page. £500m is a lot of tax to take that went nowhere near a service.

Al, Newcastle,

Hmmm... To become more competitive we need more global companies. Unfortunately we've hardly created any in the past 25 years. In fact not since the Tories deregulated the City!

Dick, Aberdeenshire,

Spot on George, and as the next chancellor you can help get this country out of the mess created by ten years under Labour.

D Case, newquay,

But a high tax and spend economy is not economically stable. Diminishing tax returns inevitably push up tax rates, which further destroy the economy. You may need four rather than two sentences to explain tax cuts, but surely not beyond the abilities of Boy George.

If he wants to see the logical outcome of his policy, hop over to Belgium. Our country deserves better, which they won't get with the man Brown either.

Christopher Gillibrand, Brussels, Belgium/ Europe

Low interest rates haven't created stability. They have created a housing and asset price bubble. Does this mean the Tories will keep rates low even if we have rising inflation? Sounds like it.....oh dear oh dear.....stability = low interest rates, and this man wants to be in charge of the economy??

John Smith, manchester, uk

No mention of quangos or the EU? Very disappointing considering the vast sums being wasted by this Labour government.

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

George Osborne is right to put economic stability first and not promise unfunded tax cuts.

With Gordon Brown's out of control spending and large budget deficit, it appears that it is now the Conservative party that is the party of prudence - not Labour.

As I write this note from my company in China, it is clear that the British economy needs lower and simpler taxes if it is to compete internationally in the age of globalisation.

With his excessive, complicated and stealth taxes, Gordon Brown has the wrong answers to the globalisation question.

If either party were to simplify the tax system and reduce the overall tax burden, when it was prudent to do so, Britain would be much better placed to compete internationally.

By sharing the proceeds of growth and improving the efficiency of the public services at the same time, Britain would be able to have better public sevices AND lower taxes at the same time.

A win-win combination from Mr Osborne that wins my vote.

Tony , Liverpool,