Michael Portillo, a former Cabinet minister, warned Rishi Sanak that the Budget has caused an ‘identity crises’ for the Conservative Party.
Portillo, who was chief secretary of the Treasury in John Major’s government, stated that the Chancellor’s tax and spending plans are ‘certainly no Conservative philosophy’.
Mr Sunak’s proposals will see taxes reach the highest level since the post-war recovery in 1950.
Researchers have said taxes will be £3,000 higher for the average UK household compared with when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in 2019.
Former Cabinet minister Michael Portillo warned Rishi sunak that the Budget has left the Conservative Party in an ‘identity crises’
Mr Sunak’s Budget included large public spending boosts, and Mr Portillo suggested that these proposals are not consistent in traditional Tory values.
He told Times Radio: ‘This is certainly not Conservative philosophy.
“This is something quite another. This is the thing Conservatives do not believe in. These policies are not believed to be possible by the Conservatives.
“And yet they’ve just being announced by the chancellor. It is, I believe, a bit of a identity crisis for Conservative Party.
His comments were made after Simon Clarke, the current Chief Secretary of the Treasury, raised concern among Tory members. He claimed that the Budget represented a ‘philosophical shifting’.
He stated to BBC Newsnight that the Government “makes no excuse for the fact that we are spending more” on public services.
He stated: “Clearly, the Government must live within their means. One test that we have set to departments, which has been achieved, is a 5% efficiency saving, and also to begin bringing down head count over this Parliament, back at the 2019/20 levels that were before.
“So we will be playing our role. But we also recognise that the state has a role to play in achieving some of our policy priorities and the Chancellor was very open about the fact that this is something that is a philosophical shift, if you like, from the Cameron Osborne…’
Economists warned in the wake of the Budget that millions of people will be worse off due to rising costs and tax increases.
Mr Sunak’s proposal will see taxes rise to the highest level since 1950, after the post-war recovery.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the poorest will suffer’real pain’, while middle-earners will be hurt.
Meanwhile, the Resolution Foundation said the poorest fifth will be around £280 a year worse off despite the Chancellor softening the blow of his Universal Credit (UC) cut.
Researchers from the Living Standards Think Tank said that three quarters of households receiving welfare will be worse off regardless of the new tapering rules announced by the Budget.