During Reeves’ Treasury Committee appearance this morning in which the Chancellor said she supports releasing strategic oil reserves, she also said there is a ‘valid’ argument to be made that she shouldn’t have raised National Insurance:
“Yeah, we did make the decision to increase national insurance in my first Budget and that’s because we needed to properly fund public services including the NHS which got a £29 billion a year uplift and so I do recognise and it’s a valid argument to say that should not have happened but if that didn’t happen we wouldn’t have been able to put the money into the NHS and reduce waiting list and reducing waiting list in the NHS is also good for business because it means that more people are available for work and the workforce is is is healthier. Um, but I do recognize there are particular issues around youth unemployment.”
UK unemployment is now higher than Italy’s…
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced her speech on migration reforms at the IPPR:
“There’s no denying we meet at a difficult time for my party.”