General Election 2015: Labour claim a Tory government would extend VAT and cut tax credits despite Cameron's Five Year Lock pledge

Exclusive: Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, claims the Conservatives have made 'billions of pounds of desperate and unfunded promises,' but Treasury minister, Priti Patel, said this was: 'More balls from Balls'

'You're having a giraffe': shadow chancellor Ed Balls meets children and parents at a bookshop in Hove, East Sussex, on Wednesday (PA)

Labour has claimed the Conservatives would extend VAT to food, children’s clothes and rents despite David Cameron’s cast iron pledge not to increase the tax.

As the Tories refused to rule out cutting tax credits to find their £10bn of undisclosed welfare savings, Labour seized on a proposal by Priti Patel, a Treasury minister and rising Tory star, to “reduce VAT exemptions.” It was made in a 2012 report published by the Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs before she became a minister.

Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, said: “The Tories have made billions of pounds of desperate and unfunded promises in this election, but have repeatedly refused to tell voters where the money will come from. Now it’s clear what Tory Treasury ministers are secretly planning to do. Extending VAT to things like food, children’s clothes and rent would hit family budgets hard. It’s a risk families and pensioners can’t afford to take.”

Priti Patel, Exchequer Secretary at the Treasury (Getty) (Getty Images)

Ms Patel replied: “It’s more balls from Balls. Our position on VAT is clear - there will be no VAT rises nor an extension of its scope. We’ve set that out clearly in the new Five Year Lock [legislation promised by Mr Cameron] and we are the only party that will cut taxes. Balls now needs to come clean on what taxes he intends to put up.”

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As the campaign enters its final week, Ed Miliband will urge Labour activists to speak to another one million voters before polling day to build on the “unprecedented” four million conversations they have now held with voters this year. His call to arms reflects the party’s conviction that victory will depend on the “ground war” in marginal seats.

He will accuse Mr Cameron of running out of positive arguments on living standards, the NHS and immigration and trying to “distract” the public by speaking about Labour’s possible post-election deals.

The Prime Minister spent Wednesday campaigning in Birmingham (Getty) (Getty Images)

The Prime Minister will make a pitch for young voters, arguing that 500,000 people under 30 would be lifted out of income tax by the Conservatives. He will speak of his determination to increase significantly the number of disadvantaged teenagers who enter higher education.

Mr Cameron has sidestepped questions over Labour’s claim that a Tory government would reduce tax credits by £3.8bn. Speaking at a West Midlands factory, he said: “I never want someone to be in a situation where working another hour or another shift cuts their benefits or cuts their pay so they actually take home less.”

He argued that the Government’s record showed it would be capable of finding the welfare savings it has promised. A Tory spokesman added: “Under our plans, tax credits and other benefits will be replaced by a new Universal Credit which actually gives more support to those on the lowest incomes and ensures that it always pays to work.”

The Conservative former Chancellor Lord Lawson has taken a swipe at the number of spending commitments his party has made during the campaign. Writing in The Spectator magazine, he says: “I am somewhat detached nowadays, but it does seem to me that the Tories have been mistaken in making a flurry of promises, many of them either expensive or unwise or both, which has detracted from their central message of economic recovery based on careful stewardship.”

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