The chancellor will today defend his economic record and slam the Conservatives' spending plans.

In a speech to Labour's spring conference, Gordon Brown will say the economy is strong.

Ahead of next week's Budget, the chancellor will say he is taking a sustainable approach to tax and spending.

Speaking later today the chancellor will tell the Labour faithful: "The reason we put stability first is not because we favour stability for its own sake, but because we know what the short term indiscipline of Tory economics means," he will say.

"We know how Tory economic irresponsibility hits businesses, cuts investment, drives up unemployment, creates insecurity and denies opportunity.

"We need a Labour government because our aim for Britain is stability - not just for a year or two, but to strive for stability for the long term."

Budget hint

And interviewed in the Times newspaper the chancellor gives a heavy hint about his plans for next week's Budget statement.

"It is unusual for a chancellor at this point in the economic and political cycle to cut the rate of growth of spending. That is what we will do," he said.

"Most chancellors, Conservative and Labour, have at times like this been tempted to increase the rate of growth of spending. That we are resisting. We neither want stop-go in the economy, nor do we want stop-go in spending.”

“You will find that when I report on Wednesday, not only have we weathered the world downturn, but we have been the more stable of all major industrial economies, with our inflation performance closer to target consistently in this period.”

Under fire

But Brown is set to come under fire from the opposition - who claim he is secretly preparing for massive tax increases after the next election.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow chancellor, claims that Labour will need to raise tax by £10 billion in its third term.

Letwin has called on Brown to "come clean" about the scale of tax increases required after the general election.

The Tories, however, have pledged to reduce the rate of spending - with the rate to remain lower than the overall rate of growth in the economy.