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HALIFAX - In a move signalled for weeks, Nova Scotia's NDP came out against the minority Conservative government's budget on Monday, saying it's "out of touch" with the concerns of Nova Scotians.

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said his party would not vote for a budget that includes an across-the-board eight per cent tax increase on electrical bills at a time when costs are rising in a number of areas.

"Higher food costs, higher gasoline costs, higher home energy costs and another eight per cent increase in the cost of your basic energy rate, I just don't think that's fair," said Dexter.

Despite the move by the official Opposition, the budget will pass because the third-place Liberals have said they will vote in favour of the fiscal plan.

Dexter said that in revamping the home heating rebate, the Tories broke their key 2006 election promise to remove the provincial portion of the HST from all electrical bills - a move the NDP supported in a previous budget.

"We think that people ought to keep the commitments that they make. . . . We can't support a budget in which one of the key commitments of the government is broken," he said.

Dexter added that the current budget does nothing to reduce wait times in health care or assist seniors who need help to stay in their own homes.

Premier Rodney MacDonald accused the NDP of "putting politics ahead of people" in voting down a balanced budget that he said put more money into initiatives such as pharmacare and building new roads.

"For me this (the budget) is much more about making sure that people get good quality government and good programs . . . they are more interested in an election and politics. It's easy to see it in their decision," said MacDonald.

The decision by the New Democrats marks the first time the party has voted against the budget since April 2003, when the Tories had a majority government under then premier John Hamm.

The budget vote is expected on Thursday.