Wes Streeting calls for NI tax cuts for businesses to ‘incentivise’ hiring

Wes Streeting has called for national insurance cuts for businesses, and for the government to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea. The former health secretary and potential Labour leadership candidate told the Sunday Times there should be a “targeted reduction” of employers’ national insurance contribution as a way to “actively incentivise” hiring, particularly of young people. A report this week by the former cabinet minister Alan Milburn said a lack of hospitality jobs was contributing to high youth unemployment in Britain. It pointed to a halving of vacancies in the hospitality industry over the past four years alone. Analysis shows Britain has the third-highest rate of 16- to 24-year-olds who are not earning or learning among rich European countries. In 2024, the rate of national insurance paid by employers was increased from 13.8% on each employee’s salary to 15%. The starting threshold it applied to was lowered from £9,100 to £5,000. The measure aimed to raise £25bn a year, but businesses said it disincentivised hiring lower-paid and part-time staff. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, suggested he disagreed with this view. Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, he defended the government’s record, saying that businesses already did not have to pay employers’ national insurance for workers under 21. …