|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
On Monday, the Northern Ireland Assembly debated the employers’ National Insurance contributions (“NICs”) increase on “frontline” services.
During the debate, Paul Frew, the Democratic Unionist Party (“DUP”) Member of the Legislative Assembly (“MLA”) for North Antrim, pointed out that the economic woes of Northern Ireland and indeed the whole of the UK are self-inflicted.
“Many people have blamed many things for the place that the British economy is in, but not one Member has mentioned the price and the cost of lockdown philosophy and how mountains of money were pumped out as part of that philosophy that should not have been and would not have been required if we had tackled things in a different way,” he said.
Let’s not lose touch…Your Government and Big Tech are actively trying to censor the information reported by The Exposé to serve their own needs. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox…
On Monday, DUP MLA Diane Forsyth introduced a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly regarding the UK government’s NICs increase and the impact it will have in Northern Ireland.
In her October budget, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed an increase in employers’ NICs, beginning on 1 April 2025. This change in national insurance contributions, which are due to start on 1 April 2025, is expected to raise £20 billion for the UK government’s budget annually, making it one of the largest single tax-raising measures in history.
However, the Office for Budget Responsibility (“OBR”) has estimated that the increase in employer NICs will reduce the level of potential output by 0.1% at the forecast horizon, by reducing labour supply by around 50,000 average hours equivalent. The OBR also expects that in the near term, the measure will add 0.2% to the level of the Consumer Prices Index (“CPI”) as a result of firms passing on part (?) of the cost of the measure to consumer prices.
Reducing labour supply is code for job losses. In other words, the number of people unemployed or “economically inactive,” as the Labour government would put it, will increase and so will the number of people who will need to rely on Universal Credit. And the CPI is used to track inflation, an indication of the cost of living.
In Northern Ireland, the fallout from the UK government’s budget is no different. The extra cost could lead to job losses, jeopardise the future of some services and create additional hardship for the most vulnerable in society. And will add to the rising pressures facing Northern Ireland government departments, local councils and the Northern Ireland Civil Service as a result of the UK Government’s decision.
Monday’s debate had three aims:
– Firstly, to recognise the need to protect businesses, and community and voluntary sector organisations that provide vital front-line services in Northern Ireland from the destructive impact of the increase in employers’ NICs.
– Secondly to request the NI Finance Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, to ascertain the total additional cost of increased employers’ NICs for the public sector, including independent providers.
– And thirdly, to call for Ms. Archibald to lobby Reeves for the funding required to meet the additional cost of increased employers’ NICs for the public sector, including independent providers, in full.
Except for the recognition of hardship, none of the hoped outcomes of the debate help businesses, and community and voluntary services. The Northern Ireland Assembly is simply asking that the UK government subsidise the Northern Ireland public sector and its contractors. These subsidies will come from taxes and NICs paid by employees and employers in the private sector, such as businesses and community and voluntary services.
As Mr. Frew rightly pointed out, not many are willing to discuss the elephant in the room – how the Government got the UK into this mess in the first place.
Yesterday he tweeted a video clip with the comment: “Part of my contribution to the DUP debate on the rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions. Raising the matter of lockdown philosophy and how that has cost us dear and the role played by the totalitarian Department of Health and the zombie Assembly.”
Transcript taken from Hansard (Paul Frew begins speaking after 6:15 pm)
I thank the Member for his intervention. Again, it is his sister party that has done this blatant damage. His politics are the same as the Labour Party’s, yet they are going to do this to our people. The Member scares me every time he raises the spectre of fiscal powers for this place because I am not sure that we have enough maturity to be able to tackle some of the issues that Westminster and global factors have in play when it comes to the attack on our people. Therefore, I worry about incompetence, not only in Westminster but in other global markets and democracies around the world.
Many people have blamed many things for the place that the British economy is in, but not one Member has mentioned the price and the cost of lockdown philosophy and how mountains of money were pumped out as part of that philosophy that should not have been and would not have been required if we had tackled things in a different way. We have to pay for that somehow. In fact, the Labour Party has to pay for that somehow. This is the manifestation of what we experienced through lockdown philosophy, but not one of the parties here will admit to that. Why? Because they were zealots when it came to lockdown philosophy. We can all blame the big bad Tories and we can all blame the big bad Labour Party, but we also have to look at the measures that this place implemented. It was OK then because the money was flowing in from the Westminster Government. We were giving it out like Smarties, but it was not Smarties; it was taxpayers’ money. In fact, it was not even that: it was debt. We have to pay that back somehow. We all need to have a look at the part that we have played in the past four or five years.
(You can find the Northern Ireland Assembly Hansard HERE and read the full ‘Front-line Services: Employers’ National Insurance Increase’ debate HERE beginning on page 68.)
The Expose Urgently Needs Your Help…
Can you please help to keep the lights on with The Expose’s honest, reliable, powerful and truthful journalism?
Your Government & Big Tech organisations
try to silence & shut down The Expose.
So we need your help to ensure
we can continue to bring you the
facts the mainstream refuses to.
The government does not fund us
to publish lies and propaganda on their
behalf like the Mainstream Media.
Instead, we rely solely on your support. So
please support us in our efforts to bring
you honest, reliable, investigative journalism
today. It’s secure, quick and easy.
Please choose your preferred method below to show your support.
Categories: Breaking News
Hi Rhoda,
Andrew Bridgen speaks again on various topics, he says God wins in the end.
https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=250323
and where did all the money go? according to the new york times circa £20 billion of government contracts went to members/friends of the tory party without any tenders/competition allowed from any other firms – supposedly due to the urgency…and a lot of that money was spent on services/goods not fit for purpose – on another note, i worked with a supply chain contractor who made very good money from the useless convid tracking app (circa £40 billion) but then lost her teenage daughter who died suddenly post jab…
the whole covid scam was just another way the Government siphoned money from us to the global elite.