Julia Lopez

I beg to move, That this House believes that employers are working people and therefore condemns the Government for breaking the Labour Party manifesto commitment not to increase National Insurance by increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions; and calls on the Government to halve employers’ National Insurance contributions for under-25s. Today, we debate a simple proposition: that employers are working people. One might have assumed it a blindingly obvious proposition, but it is one that Labour contorts itself to deny. But, then, Labour is not very good at answering obvious questions, like, “What is a woman?” or “Should someone identifying as a llama be taken seriously?”—remember that one? Yes, the “working people” definition has really been flummoxing Labour Members. For two years, they have been bending themselves into funny shapes. The right hon. Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) said that a working person is “anyone that gets a payslip, basically”. The Secretary of State for Transport said that working people were “people on modest incomes”. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed that employers are not working people. Last week, the First Secretary cleared it all up by saying that working people “do not have savings…and…rely on good public services.”—[Official Report, 4 November 2026; Vol. 792, c. 910.] That might explain why the Budget hiked taxes on savers. It is a Cirque du Soleil of mental gymnastics—but why? Because in 2024 Labour decided, albeit briefly, that it would rather get elected to govern the country than continue its audition to lead the student union of Islington ring road university, so it made everyone a promise in its manifesto: no tax increases for working people. It got specific: there was to be no VAT hike and no extra rates of income tax, and Labour would not increase national insurance—no way. Just months later, up shoots national insurance to the tune of £25 billion a year. Suddenly, working people across the country are asking, “What the hell happened?”. Labour told working people, “No, no, it’s all perfectly legit—it’s an increase in national insurance for employers, not employees.” I think that is what Labour MPs might normally call gaslighting, but since it is being done to people who contribute, work themselves silly and generally want the country to succeed, their feelings are of no concern to the Government.