Sunak faces Tory MP anger over tax hikes lengthening recession

Rishi Sunak has been warned that further tax rises will cause a “longer and deeper” recession. This comes ahead of the Autumn Statement on November 17, in which Mr Sunak and his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are expected to unveil tax hikes and spending cuts to fill a £60billion hole in the UK’s finances. But Tory MP John Redwood warned the Prime Minister there is “no need to overdo it”.He told Express.co.uk: “The government has got to fight the recession. The Bank of England is fighting inflation, inflation will come down next year. There is no need to overdo it.”If they put tax rises and spending cuts on top of a very severe monetary squeeze, you will make the downturn longer and deeper.”So instead of cutting borrowing, which they say they want to do, they’ll actually increase the borrowing. Because the longer and deeper the recession, the fewer taxes you collect and the more benefits you pay out.”Mr Redwood’s comments come after it was announced the UK economy shrunk by 0.2 percent in the last quarter. Rishi Sunak has been warned that further tax rises will cause a ‘longer and deeper’ recession (Image: Getty)Meanwhile, Marco Longhi, a member of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, told Express.co.uk the Government needs to tackle the recession with an “agenda for growth”, questioning whether or not tax rises are appropriate.He added: “I do believe that higher taxes do have recessionary pressures on any economy and therefore it wouldn’t be a choice of mine”.Earlier, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned the UK is facing a “tough road ahead”.Alluding to tax rise he warned “extremely difficult decisions” will need to be taken to “restore confidence and economic stability”. Tory MP John Redwood warned the Prime Minister that there is ‘no need to overdo it’ (Image: PA)The Chancellor said: “I am under no illusion that there is a tough road ahead – one which will require extremely difficult decisions to restore confidence and economic stability.”But to achieve long-term, sustainable growth, we need to grip inflation, balance the books and get debt falling. There is no other way.”He added: “While the world economy faces extreme turbulence, the fundamental resilience of the British economy is cause for optimism in the long run.” Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned that the UK is facing a ‘tough road ahead’ (Image: Getty)Mr Hunt said the latest announcement is “disappointing, but not entirely unexpected news”.The Chancellor is putting together a package of measures, which will be announced in the Autumn Budget.Mr Hunt said the Budget will “tackle the root cause” of the problem – referring to inflation – saying he will “protect the most vulnerable”.He said the Government will try to make the recession “shallower and quicker” in order to protect businesses. The UK economy shrunk by 0.2 percent in the last quarter (Image: Getty)In another apparent dig at Ms Truss’ mini-Budget, he said there is no “uncertainty about a basic choice we make as a country, which is whether we are going to pay our way”, referring to the swathe of unfunded tax cuts announced by the former Prime Minister.He added: “If we don’t give that certainty to the world, what we’ll see is higher interest rates, higher inflation, more instability and more worries for families and businesses.”When we produced a fiscal statement that didn’t show how we were going to bring our debts down over the medium term, the markets reacted very badly.”So we’ve learnt that we can’t fund spending or borrowing without showing how you’re going to pay for it.”