DAVID Cameron relaunched the Tories as the tax-cutting party yesterday as he shrugged off dismal poll ratings to insist they were ready to fight - and win - a snap election.

Opening the Conservative conference in Blackpool, Mr Cameron unveiled plans to scrap stamp duty for all first-time buyers, at a cost of £400m.

The proposal is likely to be followed today by plans to cut, or even abolish, inheritance tax.

At the weekend, Mr Cameron pledged an average £1,600-a-year tax break for 1.8 million couples who qualify for working tax credit.

The tax-cutting package was clearly designed to start a Conservative fightback as Gordon Brown ponders whether to call a General Election for November 1.

Mr Cameron arrived in Blackpool battered by weeks of alarming opinion polls, putting the Tories between seven and 11 points behind a resurgent Labour.

In a pre-conference interview, he admitted his party needed to provide voters with "clarity" over exactly what policies his party would offer.

However, he dismissed suggestions that a November poll was the Tories' worst nightmare, insisting: "We can win."

Mr Cameron said: "We can all play the game of quoting polls. Why not find out in a real General Election. I tell you - I really want it. I think we have the opportunity to put a very compelling alternative to people - ten more years of failure or real change with the Conservatives."

The proposal to scrap the one per cent stamp duty on all first-time house purchases up to £250,000 marked the Tories out as the party of "aspiration", he said.

Today, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is expected to offer help to people trapped by 40 per cent inheritance tax on estates worth more than £300,000.

Labour was quick to brand the tax-cutting plans as "reckless", saying they would put the economy at risk.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said: "They used to say stability ahead of tax cuts. Now, in desperation, it is unfunded promises of tax cuts ahead of stability."

Yesterday, Mr Cameron also squashed controversial Tory proposals to block all airport expansions, pending a review of their damaging impact on climate change.

He insisted all planned expansions - including at Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle airports - should "go through the planning system in the proper way".

Instead, Conservative plans to curb air travel would be restricted to taxing aircraft, rather than penalising passengers through air passenger duty.

The conference suffered an early hiccup when Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague's speech was delayed for 30 minutes because of sound problems.

And the Conservatives suffered the indignity of a 10-0 thrashing in the annual pre-conference football match against a team of political journalists.