Conservatives woo voters with tax cut pledges

By Adrian Croft and Tim Castle

BLACKPOOL (Reuters) - The Conservatives, on alert for a snap election, promised cuts in inheritance and property taxes on Monday, pledging to fund them with a levy on wealthy foreigners who pay little tax in Britain.

Business experts voiced concern that targeting the rich could drive away wealth and expertise from London's financial centre and weaken the economy. Chancellor Alistair Darling said the sums did not add up.

The Conservatives' finance spokesman, George Osborne, said there was a clear dividing line between Prime Minister Gordon Brown's high-taxing Labour government and a Conservative Party he said was "the party of aspiration".

"I for one am happy to put these clear choices before the British people at a general election," he told the party's annual conference in the northern seaside resort of Blackpool.

Brown's Labour has taken a lead of up to 11 points over the Conservatives in opinion polls, tempting Brown to consider calling a snap general election this month or next.

Brown, who replaced Tony Blair in June, would be aiming to give Labour a record fourth consecutive election victory.

In a proposal sure to resonate with the British middle classes, Osborne said a Conservative government would spare nine million people from paying inheritance taxes -- duties on the wealth bequeathed in wills.

Soaring house prices in the past decade have sucked many middle-class families into the net for the tax.