Lewes MP criticises jobs tax ‘hike’ as Lib Dem research reveals £2,810 impact on employees

The amount of National Insurance (NI) paid by employers went up on Sunday, April 6.

Lib Dem research found that employees in Polegate, Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven, Willingdon, Stone Cross and surrounding villages would be an estimated total of £2,810 worse off by the end of the decade. They said the jobs tax would be passed down to them as lower real wages.

The Lib Dems’ research also showed that workers in the Lewes constituency would experience a hit of nearly £450 in the next year on average.

Lib Dem MP Mr MacCleary said: “The Chancellor’s jobs tax is setting already stretched household finances up for another battering right in the middle of a cost of living crisis.”

He said the government is ‘risking a spate of boarded up shop fronts on our much loved high streets’ and leaving local businesses ‘on the brink of closure’.

He continued: “The Government cannot go on pretending that their jobs tax won’t hit people’s pockets. Our town centres and hard-working business owners will bear the brunt of this crushing decision. The Chancellor must immediately scrap her jobs tax and overhaul the broken business rates system. This is the only way to unleash the massive growth potential of our high streets and protect local household finances.”

The Lib Dems said that at the Spring Statement, the Quarterly Business Review (OBR) reported that 76 per cent of the rise in employers’ national insurance would be passed down to workers through lower real wages.

James MacCleary raised this issue in the Chamber and warned that GP practices, childcare providers, community organisations, and local businesses are ‘being pushed to breaking point’ by rising National Insurance costs. He urged the Government to rethink these changes. People can watch the video at www.facebook.com/MPJamesmaccleary.