Jeremy Hunt warned against ‘taxing UK to death’ by MP

Jeremy Hunt has been warned against ‘taxing the UK to death’ (Image: Getty/TalkTV)Jeremy Hunt has been warned against “taxing the UK to death”, as veteran Tory MP John Redwood urged the Government to “go for growth”. Speaking ahead of the Autumn Statement – taking place this morning – Mr Redwood called for the Treasury to “offset the coming recession” and “pull the levers in the right way”. The MP for Wokingham, a long-term advocate of tax cuts, said that the Government should be offering people “tax incentives”, rather than hiking tax rates and cutting public spending.The Chancellor is expected to announce a number of tax rises as part of an attempt to fill a £50billion hole in the public finances.Mr Hunt understood to be planning to implement an equal split of tax rises and spending cuts, which could translate into £25billion in hikes for taxpayers.His plan for the economy will be unveiled at 11.30am today when he delivers his Autumn Statement to MPs in the House of CommonsSpeaking to TalkTV, Mr Redwood said: “I do think we’ve got to go for growth. Jeremy Hunt’s plan for the economy will be unveiled at 11.30am today in the Commons (Image: PA)”We’ve got to offset the coming recession, which is a western phenomenon – all the western economies made the same mistakes.When asked if there is “only bad news coming”, the MP responded: “I hope the Autumn Statement is rather more cheerful than that.”We do need to cheer the country up and go for growth.He added: “What I am nervous about is that probably today will be concentrating on a black hole which will be there in three or five years’ time.”The truth is that the OBR doesn’t know what the state of the deficit will be in five years’ time and nor does anyone else.”