The mood among European stocks was lukewarm on Friday morning as UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt gears up to promise more tax cuts in a speech given in London. The pledges come as both Labour and Conservatives kick into election mode. The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was almost flat in early trade, while Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) was down 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) pulled back 0.1%. The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was 0.2% lower. Reports suggest the chancellor is set to critique shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves' approach in a 9am speech, while reiterating his ambition to eradicate the national insurance tax. Elsewhere, it's a quiet day on the macroeconomic calendar, with an update from property development firm Land Securities Group (LAND.L) the main highlight. A write down of the value of its property portfolio and pretax loss £341m knocked the stock 1.5% lower in early trade. Follow along for live updates: PA has the lines from Hunt's speech: “Labour like to criticise tax rises this parliament thinking people don’t know why they have gone up – the furlough scheme, the energy price guarantee and billions of pounds of cost-of-living support, policies Labour themselves supported. “Which is why it is playground politics to...