Wycombe MP Steve Baker says he expects to vote against the government's plan for a six-month extension to "authoritarian" lockdown powers later this week. 

Mr Baker, who is deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG), has spoken out amid a Commons rebellion from Tory MPs as Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks a six-month extension to the measures. 

The government is expected to receive approval from MPs to extend measures within the Coronavirus Act until October.

Senior Conservatives in the CRG have raised concerns over how such a move is consistent with the Prime Minister’s pledge to restore the country’s freedoms as the vaccine programme rolls out.

Former junior minister Mr Baker was asked about the size of the Conservative rebellion on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News. 

He said: "It’s very difficult to say until we’ve seen the exact detail of what the Government is tabling and how the votes will come.

“Let’s be absolutely clear, because it seems Labour and the SNP will vote for any old authoritarianism these days, it looks like the Government will get their business with an enormous majority.

“But I do think it’s important that some of us do seek to hold the Government to account with these extraordinary powers.”

In a separate statement, he said: “With so many vulnerable people now vaccinated, people may ask why the restrictions the government is bringing in this coming week are tougher than they were last summer when we didn’t have a vaccine.

“The detention powers in the Coronavirus Act are disproportionate, extreme, and wholly unnecessary.

“Renewing them would not be reconcilable with the Prime Minister’s guarantee that we are on a ‘one-way road to freedom’ by June 21.”