Hunt risks a backlash by downplaying hopes for tax cuts in the spring budget

JEREMY Hunt today stressed he wants to “reduce the tax burden” but played down expectations of mega savings.

For the Spring Budget next one Mr Hunt hinted that Treasury techies will have less room to raise their money tax cuts than in November Autumn Rack.

The Chancellor made the same suggestion to ministers at a Cabinet meeting this week.

He told the BBC: 'It doesn't seem to me that we will have the same opportunities to cut taxes in the spring budget as we did in the autumn statement.

“So I have to set people's expectations about the extent of what I do, because people need to know that when a Conservative government cuts taxes, we will do it in a responsible and sensible way.”

Mr Hunt added: “But we also want to be clear that the direction of travel we want to take is to reduce the tax burden.”

Before an expected confrontation general election in November, Tory backbenchers begged the Chancellor to continue cutting levies.

This week, millions of workers will see a boost to their paychecks thanks to a 2 cent cut on National Insurance announced in the Autumn Declaration.

A worker on a salary of £35,000 should be £450 a year better off, the Treasury says.

Now MPs are pleading with the Chancellor to go further.

Earlier this month, the head of Britain's economic watchdog, Richard Hughes, made a comparison public finances predicted a “work of fiction” last year.

Mr Hunt dismissed the comments, hitting back: 'These words are wrong and they should not have been said.

'The government decides on the expenditure plans and expenditure reviews.

“The next editions judgement will start in April 2025 and of course we will not publish our spending plans until the spending review has been completed. No government has ever done that.”

It comes as the International Monetary Fun has predicted that Britain will be the only major economy to shrink this year.

The IMF predicted a blow to millions of households Britain The economy will shrink by 0.6% in 2023.

The economies of the other countries, including the United StatesGermany and Japan are expected to grow between 0.1% and 1.8%.