Tories 'wouldscrap 50p tax for top earners'

The Shadow Chancellor said the Tories viewed the levy on those earning above 150,000 as “temporary”.

But he insisted the rate could not be axed until a public sector pay freeze proposed by the party comes to an end in two years’ time.

Interviewed by business leaders in the News of the World, Mr Osborne said: “I am not in favour of ever-higher tax rates – they are a disincentive to people who want to get on in life.

“I regard the 50p rate as a temporary feature of the tax system. For a would-be Chancellor to say temporary is a clear statement.”

But he went on: “I can’t say to the public sector we need wage restraint and at the same time cut the 50p rate.

“I couldn’t even think of doing something about it while at the same time I was asking public sector workers to accept a pay freeze.

“I am not going to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.”