Sunak’s National Insurance pledge could backfire

Two years ago, as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak chose to jack up National Insurance contributions. It is a mark of how all over the place this government has been that cutting NI has now emerged as Sunak’s big idea. 

Abolishing the main rate of NI for the self-employed by the end of next parliament is the one eye-catching initiative which was not trailed before the launch of the Conservative manifesto – the now customary ‘rabbit out of the hat’. Employees will get an NI cut, too – their rate will fall to 6 per cent by 2027. But there is a clear risk with Sunak’s strategy. Employees might feel a little hard done-by by comparison. It was only a few years ago, after all, that Philip Hammond tried to raise NI contributions for the self-employed in order, so he said, to make things fairer – a move which was hurriedly reversed before it came into effect after protests from within the party.