National Insurance: Minister says the government is sticking with the increase after Jacob Reiss-Mogg called for a reversal | politics news

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A minister told Sky News the government is sticking with its decision to increase National Insurance contributions despite Conservative Party concerns about the impact on taxpayers amid concerns about the rising cost of living.

Grant Shapps defended the “difficult” but “worthwhile” move following his cabinet colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg’s call for it to be scrapped at a meeting of Boris Johnson’s top team on Wednesday.

Sky News understands that the Speaker of the House of Commons told Chancellor Rishi Sunak that the increase should not continue into April in order to relieve pressure on people’s finances with soaring inflation and energy bills.

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October 13:01: Rishi Sunak defends National Insurance increase

Reese-Mogg also said the savings should be found elsewhere in Whitehall.

The government is “fully committed” to politics

A source said there was a “frank discussion about taxes, cost of living and public finances” at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

The 1.25 percentage point increase is being introduced to raise funds to address the backlog in NHS care and pay for government welfare reforms.

“There are no plans to do that, no,” the prime minister’s spokesman said when asked by reporters on Thursday whether the increase would be delayed.

“The Cabinet collectively agrees with this approach and acknowledges the public’s priority in ensuring that the NHS has the funding it needs to address the backlog, which has been exacerbated by COVID.”

Mr Shapps, the transportation secretary, reiterated this when speaking to Sky News.

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3:58 September: Representatives support raising the national insurance

“We are fully committed to doing two things,” he said.

“The first, catching up on the backlog in the NHS which is why we have this increase in National Insurance specifically for this purpose, and the second, sorting out the long-term social care problem where people lose their homes if they have certain types of illnesses, for example dementia.

“We are fully committed to making these changes, it’s a historic change that I think will provide a lot of security for families across the country, so we will definitely do that.”

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1:08 Reiner: “This is an iceberg, right in front of us”

Asked about reports of cabinet splits on the issue, Mr Sunak said: “It’s always easy to avoid tough decisions, but I don’t think that’s the responsible thing to do.

“I think people’s priorities for us are to invest in the NHS, to invest in social care.

“We need to make sure that these investments are financed sustainably, and that’s what we’re doing, and now we have to go ahead and make that change for people.”

Employment warns of a disaster for thousands of families

On Wednesday, Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner accused the prime minister and chancellor of presiding over “economic mismanagement, low growth and the neglect of our public services”.

“And their decision to fix this? To tax more workers,” she told the House of Commons during PMQ meetings.

“Combine the tax increase and higher energy prices and the average family will face £1,200 – that’s an iceberg soon, so will he finally stop and change course… or will he move on to what will be a disaster for him. Thousands of families?”

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2:33 The history of tax increases in UK politics

The Research Foundation said last month that families would face £1,200 by April “of higher energy bills and tax increases”.

Sky’s deputy political editor, Sam Coats, reports that the government is set to announce new measures to help soar energy bills over the next month.

Ministers concluded that “something needs to be done” about energy bills ahead of the April 1 increase, although they have not yet determined what form that assistance will take.

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