Debate contribution: Front-line Services: Employers’ National Insurance Increase

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 13 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Front-line Services: Employers’ National Insurance Increase

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4738754

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. First of all, I applaud and welcome the one voice that has been shown here today. Despite the leader of the Opposition's defeatist attitude, I think that we are all aware of the damage that the tax raid will do to every sector and every business in this country. Every one of them will be a victim of that atrocious play. We all lamented the fact that the previous Government were incompetent, did not do detail very well and did not understand the problems that they created. Labour promised so much more. In fact, Labour promised that there would be no tax hikes in certain elements. However, the way in which they have gone about trying to raise revenue is, in many ways, sneaky. They have tried to do it through the back door, but it will hurt every person. No matter whether you are an employer or an employee in the public sector or the private sector, you will be hurt. Most businesses that produce something will have no choice other than to put the burden of that cost on to their product. It does not matter what it is. Who pays for that product? The consumer, the housewife, the house husband — all of us; we pay. It will raise inflation. That is one of the big no-nos that the Government should have been trying to avoid. It will also lead to low growth. When there is low growth, you are talking about recession, which will impact on jobs and wealth. No one — no one — is going to avoid that damage. It will affect every single one of us who lives in Northern Ireland. Whilst it is true that the small businesses that produce something will be able to put the costs — no matter how much they loathe doing so — onto their product, there are so many people in Northern Ireland who produce a service. Many of those people will not be able to hike the cost of that service because they provide it to the public sector. Therefore, we will feel that when we lose GP surgeries, dental surgeries, care homes and hospices. It will affect the most vulnerable. Everyone will be affected, but the most vulnerable will be affected more. The Minister raised the issue of councils, which was something that had not really struck me. I think that the Minister said that councils' costs will be a burden of around £12 million. Who pays for that? The ratepayers. No matter what way you look at this, while we have all been told about trickle-down economics, this is trickle-down torture from a Labour Government whose first act as the Government has been to attack labour. It is to attack the workers. That is how stark and how blatant it is, and they must know what they are doing. You do not really go far into a degree in economics before you hit everything that I have just said.

I thank the Member for his intervention. Again, it is his sister party that has done this blatant damage. His politics are the same as the Labour Party's, yet they are going to do this to our people. The Member scares me every time he raises the spectre of fiscal powers for this place because I am not sure that we have enough maturity to be able to tackle some of the issues that Westminster and global factors have in play when it comes to the attack on our people. Therefore, I worry about incompetence, not only in Westminster but in other global markets and democracies around the world. Many people have blamed many things for the place that the British economy is in, but not one Member has mentioned the price and the cost of lockdown philosophy and how mountains of money were pumped out as part of that philosophy that should not have been and would not have been required if we had tackled things in a different way. We have to pay for that somehow. In fact, the Labour Party has to pay for that somehow. This is the manifestation of what we experienced through lockdown philosophy, but not one of the parties here will admit to that. Why? Because they were zealots when it came to lockdown philosophy. We can all blame the big bad Tories and we can all blame the big bad Labour Party, but we also have to look at the measures that this place implemented. It was OK then because the money was flowing in from Westminster Government. We were giving it out like Smarties, but it was not Smarties; it was taxpayers' money. In fact, it was not even that: it was debt. We have to pay that back somehow. We all need to have a look at the part that we have played in the past four or five years. There is no doubt about the Budget move and this sneaky way of raising revenue. Other agencies and business groups have poured cold water on the Budget that Labour has produced. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has already poured cold water on the Labour Government's claim that the levy from increased employers' National Insurance contributions will lead to anything close to raising £24 billion to £25 billion. How much money will it raise? A figure does not really come into it whenever we know that the Government will not necessarily spend the money wisely. Even if the levy did raise £24 billion to £25 billion, can we be assured that it will be spent wisely? What we do know, however, is the impact that the increase will have on employers, employees, small businesses and places that provide a service outwith government, such as GP surgeries, dental surgeries, care homes, hospices and charitable groups. Charitable groups do the work that government cannot do, because government does not have the ability to do it. Charitable groups, however, do it at the coalface and at the tip of the spear. Those services will disappear. Every single person who loses their job will impact on the service that charities provide, and, in turn, that will lead to job losses in the sector, because organisations cannot cost their way out of it. They cannot put a new price on the service that they provide. They do not produce a product that they can hike up the price of. They provide a service on behalf of government. A lot of that service is contracted already, and they will not be able to change the contract. We are therefore in dire straits, and the increase will affect every single person in Northern Ireland, as I said. Rich and poor will be affected to some degree, but for the most vulnerable, who need to see a GP or get dental care, because not doing so will lead to more complications for them down the line, who need home help or who need hospice care, the service will not be there. Those people — our loved ones — will be affected most by this Labour Government.

1,190 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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