Tory economic plans rely on the very growth they threaten to stifle

David Cameron talked up a great recovery at the launch of the Conservatives' manifesto, but this has been the slowest and weakest in recent history

The Conservative party line on the economy has changed in recent weeks. At budget time, the message was that the repair job was only half done and tough decisions lay ahead.

Since the election has been called, however, the language of restraint has disappeared and been replaced by promises of tax cuts and spending increases, most of them uncosted, in the next parliament. Sir Stafford Cripps, the austerity chancellor, has been placed in temporary cold storage and replaced by the famous pools winner Viv Nicholson.