Tory MP Esther McVey says she won't back tax rises unless HS2 is axed

Former furniture curate Esther McVey has fired a informing changeable astatine the authorities implicit plans to summation taxes successful Thursday's Autumn Statement.

The Tory MP told Deputy PM Dominic Raab putting taxes up was the "last thing" a Tory authorities should beryllium doing.

And she said she would not enactment specified a determination portion wealth was being spent connected "unnecessary vanity project" HS2.

Mr Raab defended the government's plans arsenic helium stood successful for Rishi Sunak astatine Prime Minister's Questions.

He told Ms McVey helium understood her absorption to the HS2 precocious velocity obstruction link, but urged her to hold for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's connection connected Thursday.

Mr Hunt is wide expected to denote £20bn successful taxation increases and £35bn successful spending cuts, successful a adjacent full reversal of the measures acceptable retired successful Liz Truss's mini-budget successful September.

Mr Raab rejected calls by the SNP's lawman Westminster person Kirsten Oswald to apologise to families for the "financial crisis" caused by the mini-budget and the "worst ostentation successful 42 years".

Labour's lawman person Angela Rayner attacked Mr Raab implicit the UK's sluggish economical maturation and repeated her party's telephone scrap "non dom" taxation presumption for affluent individuals.

She accused the authorities of choosing to "protect firm profits and not household income".

Mr Raab said the economical challenges facing the UK were "global" and caused by Covid and the warfare successful Ukraine, adding: "We've got a program to grip inflation, equilibrium the books and thrust economical growth.

"If we listened to (Ms Rayner), indebtedness would spell up, unemployment volition spell up and moving Britons would wage the price."

Mr Hunt's plans to summation taxes are apt to tally into absorption from Conservative MPs who supported Ms Truss's tax-cutting docket - and determination is besides speculation helium volition curb spending connected large infrastructure projects.

Ms McVey said: "Given that we person the highest load of taxation successful surviving memory, it is wide that the government's fiscal difficulties are caused by overspending and not owed to nether taxing.

"Does the lawman premier curate truthful hold if the authorities has got capable wealth to proceed with HS2 astatine immoderate cost, past it has capable wealth not to summation taxes?

"If however, it has truthful small wealth it has to summation taxes, which is simply a past happening for a Conservative authorities to do, past it doesn't person capable wealth for HS2?"

Earlier this week, right-leaning deliberation vessel Policy Exchange released a study calling for each sections of HS2 where main operation has not yet started to beryllium scrapped.

The report, by Boris Johnson's erstwhile transport advisor Andrew Gilligan, claimed specified a determination would prevention astir £3bn a twelvemonth by 2027/8, and £44bn oregon much successful full - and that it would beryllium welcomed by the public.