BORIS JOHNSON faces a Tory backlash over “stupid” plans to increase national insurance contributions (NICs) — hitting low-paid young working people the hardest.
The Prime Minister appears set to risk massive Cabinet and backbench unrest today by breaking a manifesto commitment and introducing a 1.25 per cent rise.
Mr Johnson, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have been thrashing out the details over the weekend, more than two years after the PM claimed he had a plan “ready to go.”
In addition to the increase, likely to raise about £10 billion per year, a cap on care costs will reportedly be set at £80,000, well above the £35,000 upper limit recommended by the Dilnot Commission in 2011 to prevent people from having to sell their homes to cover costs.
Northern Research Group of Tory MPs head Jake Berry warned against a policy akin to a “jobs tax” which appeared aimed at voters in affluent seats in the south of England.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me — particularly following this [Covid-19] pandemic [which has] particularly hit the youngest, particularly hit those in work — that we then ask those in work to pay for people to have protection in care,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Conservative former chancellors Lord Hammond, Lord Clarke and Lord Lamont all also criticised the reports, while Sir John Redwood, a Tory ex-Cabinet minister, said the move was “stupid.” Even Tory former prime minister Sir John Major cautioned against the “regressive” step.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer made it clear that Labour would also oppose an NIC increase — but he did not back TUC calls for a wealth tax.
“We do need more investment in the NHS and social care but this way of doing it simply hits low earners, it hits young people and it hits businesses,” Sir Keir said.
“We don’t agree that is the appropriate way to do it. Do we accept that we need more investment? Yes we do. Do we accept that [NIC] is the right way to do it? No we don’t.”
It came after shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy backed the “broad principle” of increasing taxes for the wealthy, following the TUC’s calls over the weekend for an rise in capital gains tax as a fairer and sustainable alternative.
Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said increasing the tax burden on “ordinary people is completely unjustified.”
She told the Morning Star: “The ultra-rich have had a bonanza with their wealth soaring during the pandemic. It should be taxed to pay for decent social care for all.”
Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs Richard Burgon also told the paper: “It’s right that the whole labour movement is rejecting [these] regressive plans.
“Labour must seize the moment and push for a better alternative: a national care service funded through a wealth tax. That’s how we should fund much-needed investment in social care.”
In association with the Labour Assembly Against Austerity, the Leeds East MP presented a petition to Parliament ahead of summer recess, calling for a radical package of tax increases on the super-rich to help tackle the “widespread poverty and inequality that scars our society.”
Parliamentary reporter @TrinderMatt
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September 06, 2021 at 11:00PM
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PM set to cripple low-paid with a 'stupid jobs tax' - Morning Star Online
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