Employer National Insurance Contributions

Question

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on businesses? Given the recent trio of U-turns, this Government have demonstrated that they are keen to change their minds as well as to create new multibillion-pound black holes. Will the Chancellor do the right thing and U-turn on the increase in national insurance contributions, to provide businesses with a much-needed boost in the sluggish economy that she has created?

Question

Labour’s jobs tax has really clobbered British businesses. The Office for National Statistics says that the number of available jobs is collapsing. Perhaps the Chancellor has not updated herself on how British business thinks about confidence: the Institute of Directors has said today that business confidence has plummeted; the Bank of England is warning of significant declines in wage growth; and the British Chambers of Commerce says that taxes on businesses cannot be increased. The Chancellor has bungled welfare changes, eviscerating confidence in the Prime Minister and blowing an even bigger hole in the public financing, meaning that she will raise taxes yet again this autumn. Will she avoid creating the same damaging uncertainty she did last summer by ruling out from the Dispatch Box today any further tax increases on British businesses?

Question

Non-profit businesses and charities have been hit really hard by the jobs tax. Last week, my local meals on wheels service told me that businesses like theirs around the country are having to make redundancies and put up prices for vulnerable people. In the context of today’s welfare reforms that the Government are pursuing, can the Chancellor confirm whether the Treasury will conduct any assessment of the increased cost of essential and charitable services relied on by disabled people and their carers at a time when their welfare support could be cut?