Pressure piles on Boris Johnson as hugely respected economist demands he slash taxes

THE Tories are at war on tax — with Boris Johnson’s old economy czar joining calls for cuts.

The PM is facing demands from his MPs, Cabinet ministers and ­economists to slash taxes to boost flatlining growth.

Hugely respected economist Gerard Lyons, who used to work for Mr Johnson, said he should cut income tax and fuel duty to ease the cost of living.

He claimed his old boss had “listened too much to the Treasury”.

Mr Lyons told Times Radio: “Ideally, I would like to be seeing income taxes cut, as well as corporation taxes being cut.”

He described this autumn’s £400 energy rebate for every household in the country, in an effort by the Treasury to lower bills, as “quite bizarre”.

Mr Lyons went on: “They should have temporarily cut things like fuel duty and VAT on fuel.”

Red Wall MP Jake Berry, a close ally of the PM and head of the powerful bloc of Northern Tories, said the Tories faced “political annihilation” unless they cut taxes.

Senior Tory Robert Halfon said fuel duty or VAT on petrol needed to be slashed.

He said: “It’s unaffordable for people to be spending £100 to fill up their car.”

Another Whitehall source said the Cabinet was pretty much united in wanting to see lower taxes — apart from Chancellor Rishi Sunak who feared it could fuel inflation.

Sources close to the PM have warned that it would be irresponsible to cut taxes while inflation is rocketing.

CBI chief Tony Danker warned major tax cuts would “overheat the economy”.

The Sun revealed last week that Mr Sunak would cut ­corporation tax for those businesses that invested in their machinery and skills.

He will announce the move in the Budget later this year.