Cameron aims to blunt Labour's attack on tax and spending

State support for industry. Green taxes. Plans to tackle the problems of those in the deepest poverty. Above all, no commitment that there would be any tax cuts in the first term of a Conservative government - and the chance that taxes will rise to straighten out the public finances.

This is economic policy David Cameron style, and if the lack of the ideological stamp of Thatcherism sends shudders through the right of his party, the reason is simple. Cameron is determined to avoid the sort of beating handed out by Gordon Brown at both the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

In Tony Blair's second and third victories the Labour strategy was to demand that the Tories explain which public services would be cut to fund tax cuts. Under William Hague and Michael Howard, the Conservatives rejected the claim they would have to axe investment on schools and hospitals, but the voters bought Brown's argument.

In what amounts to a backhanded compliment to Labour, Cameron and his shadow chancellor, George Osborne, have sought to leave no hostages to fortune this time. They are confident - despite Labour claims of a £10bn black hole in the Conservative plans for tax and spending - that the sums are far more watertight this time, and that the softer-focus approach will ensure the Tories receives their first hearing on the economy since the pre-Black Wednesday election of April 1992. But Labour will test the Tories on their willingness, signalled in Osborne's Guardian interview this week, to spend less on public services beyond 2011.

There are four separate strands to the Opposition's economic policy. The first is the supply side, where the party is looking at ways of supporting industry following consultations with John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce. "We have rejected the argument that the best thing a government can do is get out of the way," said one source.

On reform of the public sector, the Conservatives have aligned themselves with Labour's Blairite wing in calling for more competition to drive up standards. The aim has been to neutralise the idea the Tories do not support a publicly-funded NHS. Labour has fallen behind on its aim of halving child poverty by 2010 en route to total abolition by 2020: the Tories instead will concentrate on the hard core of people living on less than 40% of median income, and on removing disincentives to work.

In the third area of economic strategy, the Conservatives would make minor changes to the structure of the Bank of England and would beef up independent oversight of the two fiscal rules introduced by Brown as chancellor. The final issue - tax and spend - will remain contentious. The Conservatives have announced a number of tax pledges. A cut in corporation tax will be funded by abolishing reliefs and Labour accepts that this is fully costed. A second objective, to increase the percentage of Treasury revenues from green taxes has not been fleshed out and remains an aspiration. A third, the fair fuel stabiliser, would hand back to consumers part of the windfall gain to the exchequer from higher oil prices.

Finally, the Conservatives plan to tax non-domiciled residents in the UK to pay for cuts in inheritance tax and stamp duty. Labour will say the Tory sums do not add up. The Tories believe that they do and that confusion surrounding the government's own plans has muddied the water sufficiently to blunt any attempt by Labour to fight the next election on the same terrain as in 2001 and 2005.