Tom Biggins

5th February, 2012

News

Stop Labour’s tax on jobs and working people from killing the recovery

Sunday April 4, 2010

Tom Biggins, Conservative Candidate for Telford, today gave his backing to new Conservative plans to stop a new jobs tax on working families and local firms across the West Midlands. Labour Ministers confirmed in the recent Budget that Gordon Brown’s Government will be increasing National Insurance on both workers and local businesses. Under Labour’s tax-raising plans, anyone earning over £20,000 a year will see their pay packet shrink. Labour will also increase the tax that local firms pay for hiring workers who earn £5,700 a year or more.

By contrast, a Conservative Government will stop the most damaging part of Labour’s tax on jobs by cutting government waste while protecting frontline services. The cost of Labour’s tax rise on employers will be reduced by more than half. And, anyone earning between £7,100 and £45,400 – seven out of ten working people across the country – will be up to £150 a year better off than under Labour’s plans.

At least 19,800 working people across Telford will be better off as a result. A typical nurse, teacher, firefighter or police officer would save £150 a year. People on lower incomes will benefit the most as a proportion of their incomes. And, an estimated 4,981 jobs across West Midlands could be saved by making it less expensive for local firms to hire workers.

The Conservative plans have been backed by leading business figures who run firms such as Sainsbury’s, Mothercare and Marks & Spencer, and who employ over half a million people between them in the UK.

Tom said: “For the last 13 years, working people across the West Midlands have seen their taxes go up and up, and their money wasted. Now Gordon Brown is planning a tax on jobs that will hit anyone earning over £20,000 a year and destroy 4,981 jobs across West Midlands by taxing local firms more.

“Labour will kill the recovery with their tax on jobs. Conservatives will cut Labour waste to stop it. More than 19,800 working people across Telford will be better off with the Conservatives. And we’ll cut Labour’s debt to stop higher interest rates and your mortgage going up. We’re all in this together, and we need new energy and fresh ideas to get Telford working for everyone.”

- ends -

Notes to Editor:

LABOUR’S TAX ON JOBS

Labour’s tax on workers: Labour are planning to raise Employees’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for everyone earning over £20,000. Conservatives will stop this increase altogether for everyone earning under £35,000 by raising the primary threshold at which people start paying NICs by £24 a week, and raising the Upper Earnings Limit by £29 a week.

Relative to Labour’s plans, everyone liable for Employees’ NICs earning between £7,100 and £45,400 – which is 7 out of 10 working people – will be up to £150 better off a year under the Conservatives. Lower earners will get the greatest benefit as a percentage of their earnings. Nobody will be worse off.

Labour’s tax on local firms: Labour are also planning to raise Employers’ NICs for everyone earning over £5,700. This is a tax on jobs that will undermine the recovery. Conservatives will raise the secondary threshold at which employers start paying NICs by £21 a week, saving employers up to £150 for every person they employ relative to Labour’s plans. This will reduce the cost of Labour’s tax rise on employers by more than half.

According to a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research for the Federation of Small Businesses (Small business tax increases – do the economic costs outweigh the fiscal gains?), adding 1p to employers’ National Insurance Contributions would cost 57,000 jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises alone.

Conservatives will pay for the cost of these tax reductions by cutting government waste, without affecting frontline services, such as by halting all major IT spending, renegotiating major contracts, controlling recruitment and cutting out discretionary spending. A briefing note on the savings is available at:

http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/nic.ashx?dl=true (PDF)

BUSINESSES BACK CONSERVATIVE PLANS

Conservative plans to stop the jobs tax has been backed by the leaders of the following companies:

JCB, Aggregate Industries, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Kingfisher plc, Kurt Geiger, Xstrata plc, Tullow Oil plc, Carpetright plc, J Sainsbury plc, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Mothercare plc, easyGroup, Mitchells & Butlers plc, SABMiller plc, Matalan, AXA UK, Virgin Group Ltd, Whitbread Plc, Marks & Spencer plc, Diageo Plc, Harvey Nichols, Bext plc, Bestway Cash & Carry and Boots.

Source: Daily Telegraph, 3 April.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7548508/General-election-2010-National-Insurance-rise-will-force-public-sector-cuts.html

LOCAL FIGURES – JOBS SAVED

The table below are estimates of the number of jobs that could be saved as a result of Conservative plans.

	Working age population.	Estimate of jobs saved
United Kingdom	38,075,000	57,576
North East	1,598,000	2,416
North West	4,238,000	6,409
Yorkshire and Humber	3,246,000	4,908
East Midlands	2,743,000	4,147
West Midlands	3,294,000	4,981
East of England	3,486,000	5,271
London	5,095,000	7,704
South East	5,124,000	7,748
South West	3,115,000	4,711
Wales	1,801,000	2,723
Scotland	3,238,000	4,896
Northern Ireland	1,098,000	1,661

Basis: The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) showed that a 1p rise in employer National Insurance could cost 57,000 jobs across the UK in SME. As small and medium enterprises employ 59.4 per cent of private sector employees in the UK according to the latest official statistics, this represents around 96,000 jobs in the private sector across the UK. Hence, Conservative plans to stop more than half of Labour’s planned tax rise would save 58,000 jobs across the UK relative to Labour’s plans. The table below shows how the jobs saved could be distributed (based on the current distribution of jobs across the UK).

Data source: Conservative analysis of Office for National Statistics, Labour Market Statistics Regional Monthly Data, March 2010;Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Statistics for the UK and Regions 2008, BIS, 14 October 2009.

LOCAL FIGURES – WORKERS SAVING MONEY

The table below shows the total number of people currently employed in each constituency, the average salary and the number of people who will gain from the Conservative policy of stopping Labour’s tax on jobs.

Data source: Conservative analysis of data from Office of National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings) 2009; Analysis by place of residence by Parliamentary Constituency; Table 10.1a: Weekly Pay: Gross. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/ASHE-2009/2009_res_pc.pdf

Constituency	Number of Jobs	Mean Salary	Gainers under Conservatives
Telford	33,000	£18,590	19,800

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Write to: Tom Biggins, Broadway House, 2 Haygate Road, Wellington, Telford, TF1 1SG
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