Rachel Reeves was last night accused of turning her back on economic growth as business in the UK braces for a Budget onslaught that will drive up costs and threaten livelihoods, write Hugo Duncan and Emily Hawkins.
The UK Chancellor will today hit corporate Britain with an increase in employer national insurance contributions of up to 2p having previously branded the levy a “tax on jobs”.
The national insurance raid – which could raise as much as £20bn – comes alongside an inflation-busting 6.7pc increase in the minimum wage and a workers’ rights package costing firms £5bn a year.
The Institute of Directors described the triple-whammy as a “perfect storm” while the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the higher costs facing business could cost jobs.
Former CBI president Lord Bilimoria, the founder and chairman of Cobra Beer, accused the Government of abandoning its pledge to put economic growthat the heart of …