Lib Dems: Tories are the 'party of crime'

The Tories will be branded "the party of crime" today as the Liberal Democrats seek to burnish their own law and order credentials.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne will shift the focus of the party's annual conference in Bournemouth onto crime when he makes his keynote speech this afternoon.

Describing the Conservatives' law-and-order record as a "disgrace", he will warn that a new Tory administration would mean soaring numbers of offences.

He will draw on Home Office statistics showing a 81% rise in recorded crime between 1979 and 1997, the last period of Conservative rule.

During that time, violent crime increased by 164%, robbery by 405% and burglary by 86%, he will say.

And he will go on to claim that similar rates of increase now would mean almost four million more crimes a year.

"The Conservatives love to tell you they are the party of law and order. They are not. They are the party of crime," he will say.

"Their record in Government was nothing short of a disgrace.

"A vote for the Tories is a vote for more crime. It is a vote for tried and tested policies - which don't work."

His attempt to trash the Tories' record on what is traditional Conservative territory comes after the Lib Dems sought to outflank Labour on help for low-income households yesterday.

But Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is also facing increasing resistance to his stance on tuition fees, after warning that the party's flagship promise to abolish them might now be unaffordable.

A string of senior MPs, including former leader Charles Kennedy, have raised concerns and warned Mr Clegg that he will struggle to get activists to support his about-turn.

Former party president Simon Hughes yesterday insisted there were "other ways we can find savings" to bring down Britain's mountain of debt.

But Sir Menzies Campbell, Mr Clegg's predecessor, rode to his support last night, saying there could be "no sacred cows" in the current economic climate.

The Lib Dems yesterday set out plans for a new £1.1 billion tax on the wealthiest homeowners to fund income tax cuts for low and middle earners.

In a direct bid to woo traditional Labour supporters, economic affairs spokesman Vince Cable promised a £17 billion package of tax hikes targeted mainly at the country's wealthy elite.

That included slapping a new 0.5% annual levy on the value of properties worth more than £1 million.

The party estimated about 250,000 homeowners would be hit.

Other moves would include a crackdown on top earners, including City traders, who pay capital gains tax on their earnings at 18% rather than the 40% top rate of income tax.

Pensions tax relief for higher earners would also be scrapped and the capital gains tax exemption cut from £10,000 to £2,000.

The highly-redistributive tax reforms come as the Lib Dems seek to supplant Labour as the party of the left.

But Mr Cable also warned that he would have to take decisions on public spending that would not be easy or popular and refused to rule out the prospect of overall tax rises at some stage.

Following Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's warnings of the need for "savage" spending cuts, Mr Cable said he wanted to curb pensions in the public sector and freeze its overall salary bill.

He also promised to end tax credits for the higher-paid and to take an axe to dozens of quangos.

But he insisted that the Lib Dems were "fundamentally different from" the Conservatives.

"The Tories' top priority is to cut taxes on millionaires," he told delegates in his keynote speech to the Lib Dems' annual conference in Bournemouth.

"Our top priority is fairer taxes for those on lower and middle incomes."