Tories ready to hit White Van Man and pensioners in the pocket – and will spend MORE on overseas aid if Theresa May wins election

BRITAIN could be hit by tax hikes and higher spending on overseas aid if Theresa May wins the election, with the Tories accused of going for White Van Man by axing the Tax Lock.

On an extraordinary day of campaigning, the PM stunned her backbenchers by committing to carry on spending 0.7 per cent of economic output on aid.

She promised a radical review of the bloated £13billion-a-year overseas aid budget — to ensure the money is spent in the “most effective way”.

But staring down calls for the 0.7 per cent target to go, she insisted she was “very proud of the record” it gives Britain around the world.

Separately, in an extraordinary gaffe, Chancellor Philip Hammond paved the way for tax hikes for millions by hinting that David Cameron’s 2015 “Tax Lock” would be shelved.

Speaking in the US, he insisted he wanted full “flexibility” when it came to running the nation’s finances.

It sparked claims he wanted to revisit a ditched Budget Day increase in National Insurance for self-employed “strivers”.

Lib Dem chief Tim Farron said: “Philip Hammond is out to bash White Van Man yet again.”

And Mrs May signalled that the Government’s “Triple Lock” on pensions — which has guaranteed OAPs above-inflation rises in the state pension since 2010 — could go.

The Lock has cost ministers an estimated extra £28billion and MPs welcomed the savings it could hand the Treasury for the NHS and social care.

But campaigners said the day’s events could cause a voter backlash  — despite Mrs May’s 24-point lead in the polls.

Ex-Tory ministers, senior MPs and activists have been urging the PM to scrap the aid target, set in law by Mr Cameron.

But Mrs May, in her constituency of Maidenhead, Berks, yesterday,  said: “Let’s be clear. The 0.7 per cent commitment remains and will remain.

“What we need to do though is to look at how that money is spent and make sure  we are able to spend that money in the most effective way.”

The 0.7 per cent  target means that as economic output or GDP grows, so does the amount spent on overseas aid.

By 2020 the budget  is expected to hit £16billion.

Gaffes that have seen money earmarked for Chinese social care and on helping find a mate for a rare breed of tropical fish led to the Government being accused of wasting  huge amounts of taxpayers’ cash.

Mrs May’s rally was designed to defend her call for a snap election — and ensure that ­voters turn out on June 8.

But the Chancellor’s comments at the IMF in the US soon overshadowed his boss — and stunned  senior colleagues.

He said: “I’m not in the business of having some ideological desire to increase taxes. But I also think we need to manage our economy sensibly and sustainably.

“It’s self-evidently clear that the commitments that were made in the 2015 Manifesto did and do today constrain the ability of the Government to manage the economy flexibly.”

Panic-stricken Treasury sources insisted the comments were about the 2015 Manifesto — and that Mr Hammond wasn’t ref-erring to upcoming promises.  He then rushed out a statement saying: “We will and will always be the low-tax party.”

Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Business, said: “A key test for political parties in this election is what they plan to do to support Britain’s 4.8 million self-employed strivers.

“Any plan to clobber them with a tax hike would be a real kicking for this group of  motivated voters.”