Keir Starmer has just finished his speech at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) this morning. He began by thanking businesses for footing the bill for Labour’s tax hikes. He wasn’t exactly met with a huge round of applause…
Starmer said:
“I fully acknowledge, and I do acknowledge here, that this year, as we’ve had to fix the foundations of our country, deal with the unprecedented mess that we inherited, we have asked a lot of you. It has made a huge difference. But none of that would have been possible without your contribution. And I say thank you. It’s what I mean by partnership.”
A new survey by the BCC shows one in three businesses have either cut jobs or are eyeing layoffs thanks to Reeves’ NICs hike. Head of the BCC Shevaun Haviland slammed Labour’s “paralysing” tax hikes today:
“The Government needs to use the tax system to incentivise growth, not kill it. Increased taxation is paralysing business. The size and scale of the rise in National Insurance contributions (NICs) took businesses by surprise. We were unprepared for the huge burden placed upon us, and it led many of us to rethink our growth plans. As always, businesses soak it up and move forward, but they feel like they are wading through treacle.”
At the same time four in ten UK business owners are now considering moving operations overseas thanks to Labour’s tax-grab and business confidence has crashed to its lowest level since the mini-budget. Meanwhile, Starmer hasn’t ruled out further tax hikes on businesses in the Autumn Budget. Starmer may keep praising British businesses for paying up – but at this rate, there won’t be many left to thank…
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”