The Conservative Party should commit to a £21 billion programme of tax cuts, its own review body demanded today.

According to the party's Tax Commission, which has been considering how it should approach tax at the next general election, the Conservatives should campaign on a promise to make the cuts through a series of reforms spread over five years.

The recommendation is likely to be rejected, however, by David Cameron, the Tory Party leader. Mr Cameron insisted at the recent party conference - and again in a speech today - that the party had to put economic stability first if it wants to oust Labour at the next election.

The high-powered review body, chaired by the former Secretary of State for Scotland Lord Forsyth, has proposed a series of 40 measures to reduce the tax burden for millions.

Amongst the ideas put forward are the abolition of the 10-per cent tax rate and an increase in the untaxed personal allowance to £7,185 which would stop around 2.5 million people from needing to pay income tax at all.

Other proposals would see the basic rate of income tax reduced to 20 per cent and the main level of corporation tax reduced to 25 per cent while many of the tax rules would also be simplified.

The details of the Tax Commission's findings, presented in a 176-page dossier, were leaked a day ahead of the planned launch with the timing apparently designed to embarrass Mr Cameron.

Earlier today Mr Cameron had given a speech to Forum for Private Business in which he again restated the approach to taxation he set out at the party's autumn conference, saying "economic stability must come before tax cuts".

Ed Balls, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and Gordon Brown's right-hand man, said the proposed tax cuts would not help ordinary families and would leave a black hole in the public finances.

"The scale of the tax cuts is huge," he said. "The problem is there is no indication here at all as to how it will be paid for.

"David Cameron has denied he would cut public spending. The hole in the finances that this would create is dangerous for the economy."

A senior Cameron aide insisted that despite the commission's findings there was still no question of the party committing to such a large sum of cuts at this stage.

He blamed "a glitch" for the inadvertent appearance of the plans which has now forced the party to release the full document.

Other key points in the report include the proposed abolition of tax credits for Research and Development and film tax , a plan to "abolish, restrict or simplify" all tax-free perks for employees and a move to ensure that only basic rate taxpayers get child tax credits.

George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor, said: "The Commission has given us a menu of options that merit serious consideration. Some we will accept, some we will modify, and others we may reject.

"But the framework of out tax policy is now set. Sound money means that stability will always come before promises of tax cuts.

"We will not be promising up-front, unfunded tax reductions at the next election.

"We will, however, rebalance our tax system. Green taxes on pollution will rise to pay for reductions in family taxes. This report sets out some options for doing that."