David Cameron will fight the next election on a multi-billion pound platform of tax cuts, including tax breaks designed to make marriage a core battleground with Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor signalled on Tuesday.

George Osborne gave his strongest endorsement yet of a £21bn package of tax cuts recommended by the Tories' tax reform commission, including a reduction in corporation tax and the axing of stamp duty. "I want much of what they say to form the basis of a programme for government," the shadow chancellor told a Conservative association lunch in London.