Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

LEADING Tories sparked fury with a callous plan to slap VAT on food and children’s clothes yesterday.

The Free Enterprise Group – who list Treasury minister Sajid Javid among their members – also want to TRIPLE the tax on heating bills.

Hammering the poor with VAT hikes was the first of seven demands that the group set out ahead of Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on the economy next month.

The right-wing blueprint was unveiled by Old Etonian spokesman Kwasi Kwarteng.

Kwarteng called for an end to VAT exemptions and the reduced rate currently applied to many essential items.

They should be swept away, along with the existing standard 20 per cent VAT rate, and replaced with a 15 per cent charge that would apply to all purchases, the Tory MP said.

That would bring steep rises in the price of “zero rated” items that include medical prescriptions in England, bus fares and train tickets as well as most food and children’s clothes and shoes.

There would also be big increases in the cost of electricity, gas, car seats, mobility aids for the elderly and other products that attract the reduced five per cent rate.

(Image: Getty Images)

Poor families would be hit hardest because they have to spend a larger proportion of their income on food, energy and other goods that are not currently charged at full rate, experts said.

Speaking at the launch of the blueprint, Kwarteng admitted that the proposal would be unpopular with many but claimed that “in the round” people would be better off.

He said: “This is controversial because it would mean abolishing zero-rated VAT.

“But I think having one VAT base, actually, would be very clear. It would be very easy to understand.

“And I think, in the round, consumers would benefit very greatly from it because most items are paying the top rate of VAT and I think if you were to reduce that to 15 per cent that would be revenue neutral and I think it would have a stimulative effect.”

Kwarteng also slammed ministers for caving in to the “schoolboy-ish” campaign against the “pasty tax” which slapped 20 per cent VAT on hot, baked goods.

He said: “Frankly, I think we should have stuck to our guns on that.”

Even a fellow member of the group, Brooks Newmark, admitted that the VAT proposal was politically “toxic”.

And it stands little chance of being included in George Osborne’s statement on December 5.

But critics said it exposed the “true face” of the Tories.

Liberal Democrat MP Lorely Burt, parliamentary aide to Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, said the proposal exposed the differences with their coalition partners.

Burt said: “I am shocked that some Conservatives want to hit families with a massive tax hike on food and children’s clothing.

“Liberal Democrats are cutting the cost of living for hard-pressed families.

“We now want to introduce a ‘Worker’s Bonus’ by cutting people’s taxes by a further £100 – this is on top of the £700 we have already put back in people’s pockets through our income tax changes.

“This clearly shows the difference in priorities between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.”

Labour MP Phil Wilson added: “This shocking proposal to increase the price of food and children’s clothes by 15 per cent shows the true face of David Cameron’s Conservative Party.

“They don’t understand the pressures facing British families and they just don’t care. At a time when families are facing a cost of living crisis, you have to be spectacularly out of touch to suggest putting VAT on food, children’s clothes and books.

“And their plan to raise VAT on gas and electricity to 15 per cent would add £120 to the average energy bill.”

Wilson called on members of the group to distance themselves from the plan.

They include ministers George Eustice, who used to be David Cameron’s spin chief, Matthew Hancock, who is a close ally of George Osborne, and Liz Truss.