Growing businesses, like mine based in Abercynon, are worried about what impact the next government is going to have on our ability to increase the number of people we employ to deliver for our stakeholders.
All parties are currently committed to increasing the minimum wage, which will increase business costs, especially if employers have to pay more national insurance on top.
The Conservatives’ policy not to increase NI seems on the face of it more appealing than that proposed by Labour.
The Tories say they can afford to make their changes to national insurance, but if you look at their statements in detail they can’t. They are based on back-of-an-envelope doubling of Labour’s annual savings of pounds 15bn in only nine months. At the last election, even the Tories themselves said it would take three years to make this amount of savings.
Yes the business leaders in England are right, that the NI increases are a tax on jobs. However, I’m not as foolish as them to believe the Tories are on the side of those wanting to remain in or enter the job market.
We all know their priorities are the wealthiest 3,000 households in Britain, and not those who have to work hard for every penny they have.