Letter from , Labour’s Shadow Chief
Secretary to the Treasury, to the Prime Minister, asking for the
Government to set out how they would pay for an elimination of
national insurance following Treasury Minister’s comments.
Dear Prime Minister,
When asked on the radio whether the Conservatives plan to
eliminate national insurance, Treasury Minister said “Yes”.
This follows an email to Conservative Party members, in
which revealed his plan to eliminate
national insurance “in the next Parliament”.
It is vital that you immediately spell out how you plan to pay
for this latest unfunded tax cut - a move that would cost £46
billion a year, equivalent to £230 billion over the course of a
five-year parliament.
Your predecessor’s disastrous mini-budget included £45 billion in
unfunded tax cuts, crashing the economy and sending mortgage
rates soaring for millions of households.
Just like , you have so far refused to set out how you are going
to pay for this latest shake of the magic money tree.
Your other tax plans are set to leave eight million taxpayer
pensioners £1,000 worse off on average, according to analysis of
your plans from the Resolution Foundation. This also doesn’t
account for ‘stealth’ council tax rises which add around £180 per
household.
All households will be £870 worse off under your tax plans on
average, as you give 5p with one hand and take 10p with the
other. This budget confirms the highest tax burden in 70 years,
with your latest unfunded plans pushing this up further.
You must immediately set out how you will pay for this policy.
Will working people see further tax rises or will public services
be cut? This reckless tax cut would take up more than half of
last year’s £83 billion Department for Education budget and over
twice the Home Office’s £20 billion managed budget. Will this tax
cut be paid for by stripping already struggling schools of their
funding or come at the expense of securing our borders?
Given this is a matter of public interest, I will be releasing
this letter to the press.
I look forward to your urgent response.
Darren Jones
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
