Fareham MP calls for people to '˜hold nerve' over public finances

Suella Fernandes said it was important to make sure there was enough money to invest in the public sector, and that raising taxes or increasing borrowing would not be a solution.

She was asked whether the country had a ‘moral obligation to continue with austerity’ while appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? on Saturday.

It comes after Tory MPs backed a review of the one per cent limit on annual pay rises for public sector workers.

Miss Fernandes said: ‘Let’s not forget that nurses and doctors and teachers are tax payers too, and public sector wages are paid for by all of us.’

‘I do not think raising income tax for the lowest paid is the right thing to do.’