Labour’s National Insurance rise is an “existential threat” to GP surgeries, leading doctors warned last night.
The British Medical Association is the latest body to criticize Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax raid on employers’ National Insurance contributions.
In a strong statement, the doctors’ union called for GP surgeries to be given funding to cover all the additional costs of the increase.
He said the BMA was “stunned by the suggestion that GPs are not part of the NHS family and recognizes the existential threat to NHS general practice across the UK from the significant increase in the National Insurance burden and the national living wage on general practice after many years. of underinvestment”.
It comes as retail and hospitality bosses accused Ms Reeves of “driving businesses to the wall”.
The British Medical Association is the latest body to criticize Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax raid on employers’ National Insurance contributions.
Labour’s National Insurance rise is an ‘existential threat’ to GP surgeries, doctors warn (file image)
The Chancellor was criticized by the chairman of the Fuller, Smith and Turner pub chain, and was warned by the British Retail Consortium that job losses and rising prices were “inevitable”.
Michael Turner, whose family has run the pub chain since 1845, called the National Insurance raid a “direct attack” on sectors such as hospitality, which are “the lifeblood of our economy, while leaving large institutions of the city, who can afford to pay their share, almost completely intact.
He added: “The unintended consequences of these actions will be to increase inflation, put pressure on wages and lead many businesses to failure.”
The consortium, which represents household names such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Primark, estimates that retailers face an annual increase of £2.3bn in National Insurance taxes alone, on top of other rising costs.
“The magnitude of the new costs in the fall budget and the speed with which they occur, along with the costs of a host of other regulations, create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable and higher prices are a certainty,” the BRC wrote. in a leaked draft of a letter to the Chancellor.
Businesses were blindsided by Reeves’ decision to increase NI by 1.2 percentage points to 15 percent from April, while a higher minimum wage and new employment rules will compound pressure on businesses.
The labor sector also lowered the threshold for when companies start paying NI contributions to employers, a pressure point for companies that employ many young people part-time.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves looks at a computer analyzing cell sorting experiments during a visit to Quell Therapeutics’ new offices in London.
Fuller’s chief executive Simon Emeney admitted the changes will make student recruitment “less attractive” and increase prices across his industry.
Andy Higginson, chairman of JD Sports and BRC, warned that if the increases are carried out in “a large amount” next April there would be “significant” price rises.
His comments create a fresh embarrassment for ministers as Higginson had been the only FTSE-100 boss to support a letter of support for the Labor Party during the election.
But he told the BBC it was “difficult to see the actions so far really matching the pro-business rhetoric ahead of the election.”