Philip Hammond’s reported plans to hike fuel and alcohol duties to help fund a £20bn NHS cash injection is an attack on “white van man”, defiant Tory MPs have claimed.

The Treasury is facing a backlash from backbench MPs, amid claims that ministers are considering an inflation-linked increase on duties which could raise an additional £1bn annually.

Fuel and alcohol duties, which have been frozen for years, are now said to be “under serious consideration” as a means of easing pressure on the public finances.

Responding to the news this morning, Robert Halfon, the MP for Harlow and a long-term campaigner for fuel duty freezes, said the Treasury would be hitting “hard working white van men and women”.

He added that petrol and diesel prices have risen by more than 13p over the past year, as he called on the Government to look at cutting overseas aid rather than “making life harder for struggling families”.