Now the gloves are off

Yesterday I looked at the papers opinions on the start of the Tory conference and the possibility of a general election.

Today with the shadow announcements on tax we see the nationals spoiling for a fight.

The Daily Express,having campaigned long and hard for the abolishen of Inheritence tax claims victory on its front page

DAILY Express readers achieved a spectacular victory against Gordon Brown’s unjust inheritance tax yesterday when the Tories sounded “the death knell for the death tax”.

As does the Mail on its front page

Tories' pledge to free 9 million families from death tax

The Conservatives dramatically trumped Gordon Brown's pitch to Middle England yesterday by promising to abolish death duties for nine million families.
The Tory fightback exploded into life as George Osborne announced that only estates worth more than £1million will be liable for inheritance tax if his party wins power.

The Sun which gave David Cameron three days yesterday says

SO far, so good.
The Tories rose to our Mission Impossible challenge yesterday with some real fighting talk.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne strode on to Gordon Brown’s turf and threw down the gauntlet on poverty and welfare.
He promised to slash tax and help families

The Telegraph describes Osbourne's tactics as a popular move

It is easy to see why. First, it was utterly unambiguous in its formulation and reasoning: Mr Osborne made it clear there was to be no hidden subtext or get-out clause. This was a straightforward tax reduction, unlike so many of Gordon Brown's apparent tax breaks, which vanish in the Budget small print.
Second, it was politically well-judged: limiting death duty to estates of over £1 million was more astute than abolishing it altogether. Being able to declare that, under a Conservative government, only millionaires will pay inheritance tax is a sensible way to avoid the charge that the Tory party is inclined to protect the rich.

The Times describes it as a

A welcome initial move, but the Tories should be bolder on taxation

Adding

The broader political question, however, is whether it will be enough to make the issue of tax the centre of any election campaign, and to the benefit of the Conservatives. Tax cuts should be a process, not an event, because the aspiration to succeed is not a one-off instinct or moment but a continuous ambition

From the other side of the political divide,the Guardian describes it as "The numbers game"

By offering three tempting tax proposals, without much compensating pain, Mr Osborne has lifted Conservative spirits mightily. But he had better be able to show that his figures add up in the harder test of an election campaign. Labour, merciless in looking for error and deceit, scents opportunity. Mr Brown knows that magic tricks lose their appeal when the artifice is revealed.

Sum total of nothing

says the Mirror

If David Cameron thinks Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's speech yesterday will be an election winner, then the Tory leader's clearly a loser.
Tax cuts for the wealthy will never get the vast majority of people voting Conservative again.
In fact, the irresponsible giveaway should drive more of the middle-classes into Gordon Brown's open arms.

And the Independent says

Populist and eye-catching, but beset by vagueness

The opinion polls are simply too unfavourable for David Cameron and his advisers genuinely to desire a contest at this stage. And that is the rather desperate light in which yesterday's taxation proposals from the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, must be viewed.