The Conservative leader said that the UK was entering a new 'age of austerity', after the Budget revealed huge public deficits caused by the credit crunch.
A Tory government would take tighter control of state spending, David Cameron promised in a speech yesterday.
The leader of the Conservatives said that, in government, he would impose a "massive" change in the public services to create a "government of thrift" for a "new age of austerity". He also criticised what he termed the "spendaholic" Labour government, which he said had committed "burglary" on ordinary people.
Mr Cameron's remarks come in the wake of last week's Budget announcement that the UK would run up a public debt of £175 billion this year, equivalent to over 12 percent of GDP. The credit crunch has led to lower corporation taxes and rising unemployment, with knock-on effects on government revenue.
Responding to the speech, Labour politicians said that the Conservatives were planning to reduce taxes for the wealthy if they came to power. During the speech, Mr Cameron had criticised the government's plans to increase the top rate of income tax to 50p in the pound as "a pathetic piece of class war posturing".
Mr Cameron said: "When I see [Gordon] Brown and [Alistair] Darling, I'm reminded of those people who come to your door; one pretends to read your gas meter, while the other robs your house. 50p income tax when you have a budget deficit of £175 billion? That's not responsibility - it's distraction burglary."
The Tories are to publish all instances of public spending worth over £25,000 on a special website if they form a government, the speech also confirmed.
Health secretary Alan Johnson was quoted by the BBC as saying: "Today David Cameron once again showed that natural Tory instinct to make the many suffer to pay for tax cuts for the very wealthiest."
