Dame Priti Patel has claimed that "people need their money back" today ahead of the 2024 budget. On Wednesday Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his budget, and it is expected to include some cuts to taxes.
The Chancellor has been under growing pressure from other Tory MPs to lower taxes, which are currently at a historic high.
Labour have said people would be worse off whatever he does "thanks to 14 years of Tory failure".
Priti Patel, the former Home Secretary told GB News that the Conservative Party have been "downplaying the budget" because "it is part of the process" she added "people need their money back."
Priti Patel told GB News that the Conservative Party have been "downplaying the budget"
GB News
Speaking to GB News she said: "Every Chancellor downplays expectations, it is just a part of the process.
"This is partly because there is a lot of market sensitive information in the budget in there as well so let us give Jeremy Hunt the benefit of the doubt."
GB News host Eamonn Holmes asked her: "So that means that there could be some surprises in there?"
Patel responded: "I am hoping so. Despite the doom and gloom that is in the news papers and has been briefed out and come with the OBR, we haven't seen the OBR all of that is going to be published.
Jeremy Hunt will unveil the Spring Budget on March 6 PA"I take the view, and I have said this consistently, that I do think that the British people deserve more of their own money back. This is a fact, it isn't even a discussion point anymore.
"We have the highest tax burden in over 70 years." Eamonn asked her: "Why? Because we don't seem to be spending money on anything?"
The Tory politician responded: "First of all, we are spending significant amounts of public money. We're at the highest level now. You've just said people are saying we're not spending enough.
"That's a different discussion because if the public want more public spending then obviously taxes have to be higher.
Priti Patel spoke to GB News ahead of the budget
GB News
"That's a choice that any government and every government has to make. I was in a government back in 2010 and in 2015 I was in the Treasury.
"Back then, when difficult choices and decisions are made, welfare budgets were cut back, I was the minister that reduced the welfare budget by £12 billion. That's a drop in the ocean now to what our welfare spending is. So these are choices that every government has to make.
"Jeremy Hunt said that he's going to cut back the size of the civil service, which is at a record high. We have over 500,000 civil servants now.
"Even to shave a degree off, that would cut public expenditure by at least a billion pounds and that would be great."