There is now a clear choice for British people:

Either "Spend and Tax" from Labour or spending restraint and fiscal responsibility from the Conservatives.

This week’s tax cuts from Labour are tax cons to try and cover up the mess they’ve made – and, as many senior economists say, these tax cuts are only likely to make the situation worse. Gordon Brown realises he’s got the country into a hole – but rather than stop digging, his solution is to fill the hole with our money.

How big is the hole? – on the Chancellor’s estimates government debt will now exceed £1 trillion or £1,000,000,000,000!– and that’s without the billions of PFI debt or the unfunded public sector pensions!

And that’s using the government’s own numbers – independent economists are much less optimistic about growth forecasts – that means the position could end up much worse!

To pay for the £20 billion "fiscal stimulus" package every tax payer will pay an extra £1,500 over the next parliament. That comes from £20 billion of extra national insurance and £10 billion of extra income tax. By 2012 everyone earning £20,000 or more will pay more tax.

There are also another £100 billion of tax rises the Chancellor chose not to specify – another £6,000 each!

That’s what we will need to pay in future to pay for the government’s tax con!

That means when the economy starts to grow, the government will land us with one of the above bills – what will that do for our prospects of emerging from recession?

That’s what we mean by Labour’s tax bombshell – one that will sink the recovery before it begins.

Now is not the time for more spending and more debt – now is the time to start living responsibly. Yes government debt will rise in a recession – tax revenues will fall and benefit payments will rise – but that’s no reason to choose to go and borrow a whole lot more.

It’s the borrowing and spending binge that’s got us in this mess – we now need to be doing less of both not more.

Labour ministers say they feel people’s pain.

If so, then encouraging people to carry on borrowing and spending is a funny way of showing it. Yes trying to boost the economy with targeted tax cuts is a good idea – but you need to fund the cuts, and target them at protecting jobs and small businesses - I welcome some of the measures announced to help small businesses.

But a 2.5% cut in VAT? For most people VAT is charged on "luxuries" and so what this does is help people who are buying a new TV! Will it make a difference?

It may help – but did you see Marks and Spencer’s offering a 2.5% sale last week? No it was 20%!

So will you be spending more – or saving the money and repaying debt? Please tell us in our online survey – it will only take 60 seconds to complete!

• A message from Nigel Mills

• What the Conservatives would do

• How we got here