Maldon's MP, Sir John Whittingdale, has spoken out in the Commons against Labour's new Budget. 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday (October 30) Labour's first budget for 14-years. 

It included £40bn worth of tax raises, with the bulk of the money raised by increases to Employer's National Insurance contributions. Read Now: Labour's Budget in a Nutshell

Maldon's Conservative MP of over 30 years, Sir John Whittingdale, spoke in a debate yesterday (October 31), criticising the "very Labour Budget". 

Sir John said: "[This Budget] put up spending massively, borrowing massively and tax massively.

"Let us be clear: tax and spend is a matter of choice. It was the choice of this Government to break all the promises that they made at the last election.

"It was their choice to break their manifesto commitments not to increase national insurance contributions. They said that they would not increase tax on working people, but in many areas the measures that they have introduced will have a significant impact on working people.

"The denial that there was a tax bombshell to come is extraordinary, given that they subsequently announced a £40 billion one, which will result in the tax burden in this country rising steadily to what will be the highest ever on record."

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He also mentioned the "extremely painful" decision to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from pensioners not in receipt of pension credit, as well as concerns with the increasing costs of employing people as a result of the budget. 

Discussing the Budget's implications for the Maldon constituency specifically, Sir John said: "One of the measures I want to touch on is the removal of agricultural property relief. 

"The Country Land and Business Association estimates that that will affect 70,000 businesses. Family farms in particular will feel the impact worse.

"This is a measure that the Labour party said it would not introduce, but it has broken that promise and is now proposing to introduce it, with enormous damage not just to farmers but to food security and our environment.

"I also want to mention VAT on private schools. In my constituency I have three small independent schools: Heathcote school in Danbury, Elm Green in Littleborough and Maldon Court school. The parents who send their children there are not rich; they make huge sacrifices.

"In Essex we are very fortunate to have really good grammar schools. Those parents make that sacrifice to help their children hopefully get into the grammars, but they will not be able to continue if there is a 20% increase in fees as a result of the imposition of VAT. 

"They will withdraw their children and those schools will be threatened with closure. The consequence is that the children will need to be placed in state schools, which are already under huge pressure. 

"My constituency is growing rapidly, and there is enormous pressure on schools. This will simply make it worse."