Jeremy Hunt vows to do more to help six-figure earners should Tories win the general election – and if Chancellor survives his own ‘Portillo moment’ on 4 July

Jeremy Hunt has pledged to do more to help people earning six-figure salaries as the Tories win the general election – and he clings to his own chair.

The Chancellor suggested that if he remains in charge of the Treasury after July 4, he would focus on removing the high-income ‘cliff edges’ in the tax system.

Mr Hunt pointed out that the Government’s offer of free childcare for parents is not available if either of them earns more than £100,000.

The tax-free personal allowance will also be abolished for those earning £125,140 or more.

But the chancellor’s hopes to remain in 11 Downing Street not only on the Tories winning the general election, but also on whether he personally gets re-elected.

Mr Hunt is facing a fierce challenge from the Liberal Democrats in the Godalming and Ash constituency.

He admitted he was in for a ‘Portillo moment’ on July 4 – referring to then Tory minister Michael Portillo’s shock defeat at Enfield Southgate in the 1997 general election.

Jeremy Hunt has promised to do more to help people on six-figure salaries if the Tories win the general election – and he’s holding on to his own seat

The chancellor admitted he could face a ‘Portillo moment’ on July 4 – referring to the shock defeat of then Tory minister Michael Portillo in the 1997 general election.

In an interview with the Sunday timesMr Hunt revealed he was facing local anger over the Government’s childcare offer being withdrawn from those earning more than £100,000.

“Around here, childcare reforms have been quite popular,” the Chancellor said, speaking to the newspaper in Bramley, Surrey.

‘But people are also bringing up the fact that one person earning over £100,000 means you can’t access it, and that creates an abyss.

“Because it was a big commitment, we couldn’t afford to do more when I made the original announcement.

“But those are things that I think we definitely want to make progress on, yes.”

He added: “I’ve always said that if you want to be economically productive, we have to eliminate the cliff edges in the tax system.

‘The abolition of the personal allowance, the fact that childcare benefit stops if one person in a household earns more than £100,000.

“If you talk to economists, they’ll say the most damaging things in the tax system are when you have things that have a high marginal rate.

“So it’s definitely on our list, something we’d like to do more of.”

Mr Hunt was also asked about the prospect of being expelled from Parliament at the upcoming general election, amid a tight race in his Surrey constituency.

The Chancellor, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005, said: ‘I have mixed feelings about it.

“Part of me would like to hit the national campaign trail and talk about big national issues, as I have done over the past 18 months as chancellor.”

But Mr Hunt added that what is ‘fantastic’ about British democracy is that ‘when the Chancellor knocks on this door, people are not surprised and don’t say, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Chancellor.’ They say, “Too damn good, I’m really angry about this, about that, what are you going to do about it?”.

The Chancellor said it is ‘a point of pride that I look after the area I grew up in’.