SOUTH Essex MPs gave a cautious welcome to possible tax cuts but there are worries among local Tories that more borrowing to pay for them could lead to problems.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to unveil a series of tax-cutting measures in his pre-Budget report next week, along with increases in public spending, to boost the economy.

But Conservatives say the tax cuts will be paid for by further borrowing, and will “max out the nation’s credit card”.

Billericay Tory MP John Baron said: “I welcome tax cuts, provided they are aimed at the lower paid.

“I believe people should have more of their own money to spend as they want to spend it, rather than it being taken away by a high taxing Government.”

UKIP MP for Castle Point Bob Spink said he had been a believer in tax cuts for a long time and was pleased both the Labour and Conservative parties were coming round to this view. He said: “I am concerned it has been left too late and will not be enough to head off the recession.”

James Duddridge, who is Rochford and Southend East Tory MP, said he was concerned about the Government announcing what appeared to be large tax cuts but which were actually small ones.

“If they think the people of my constituency will be taken in again, they are very much mistaken.”

However, Basildon Labour MP Angela Smith said further borrowing would bring stability to people’s lives.

She said: “In the 1980s the Government didn’t intervene and I remember 15 per cent interest rates for mortgages, and high unemployment. We are looking at some borrowing, but to keep people in work and help them remain in their homes.”