The Collapse of Labour - Where the Government Went So Wrong
National Insurance It had become apparent by mid-2022, with the Partygate scandal in full swing, that the Conservatives would be going out and a Labour government would come in at the next election. But with potentially up to two and a half years until the next election, salting the earth was not the order of the day, not yet at least. National Insurance rates had been on a bit of a rollercoaster by 2024. The rate most people were paying had been fixed at 12% for around ten years when Liz Truss rose it to 13.5% in her disaster of a mini-budget, before being returned to 12% in the aftermath of the chaos. But salting the earth was back on the menu when the election appeared to be just a year away, when in the Autumn 2023 Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that National Insurance would be cut to 10% immediately then 8% in the March 2024 Budget if conditions allowed, which Hunt would go on to deem that they did, paid for partially with increased borrowing, and partially with promised...