Government must assess impact of potential national insurance hike, says SNP

The UK Government must carry out a “full impact assessment” of proposed increases to national insurance in the forthcoming budget, the SNP has said.

The Prime Minister has refused to increase tax on “working people” but has not ruled out an increase to the contributions made by businesses to national insurance, leading to speculation such a lever could be used to help ease the financial stress on the UK.

But on Tuesday, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce published a survey of 450 businesses, with 55% of them saying they were concerned about taxation.

In a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the October 30 budget, SNP economy spokesman Dave Doogan MP said: “The Labour Party must tread very carefully if it is planning to hike national insurance taxes on thousands of small and medium-sized Scottish businesses.

“There is a very real danger it could lead to squeezed pay for thousands of Scottish workers, fewer jobs and even redundancies.”

He added: “The Labour Government must publish a full impact assessment of any national insurance hike on small and medium-sized businesses, and the jobs and pay of millions of workers – and be certain that workers won’t lose out if the Labour Party goes ahead with this tax rise.

”You must be certain that jobs won’t be lost, and the wages of workers won’t be squeezed, as a result of Labour’s tax hikes.”

Speaking as the survey was published, Scottish Chambers of Commerce vice president Douglas Smith said businesses understand the public finances are “challenging”, but stressed that any changes at the Budget “must not be at the expense of investment and growth”.

But the Treasury would not be drawn on the speculation.

A spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation around tax changes outside of fiscal events.”