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Raising employer national insurance is still a tax on working people, Alex Veitch, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce said.<\/p>\n
“Nearly all UK companies are small, with many family-owned, and they are the anchors in our local economies,” he said.<\/p>\n
Raising employer National Insurance contributions would “simply hobble growth and lead to businesses having less money to invest in their staff,” Mr Veitch told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), warned that raising national insurance would be a “difficult move” for employers.<\/p>\n
“If the overall costs of hiring aren\u2019t matched by higher productivity, it makes it harder for businesses to create the jobs and the growth that we need to really fund our public services,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.<\/p>\n
High Street shops, manufacturing and the transport sector could be particularly badly hit, Ms Newton-Smith warned.<\/p>\n
Labour claims nearly 38,000 new jobs will be created in the UK in the coming years by \u00a363bn in private funds committed by businesses at an investment summit on Monday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In addition to the signals on national insurance, on Tuesday the government released \u00a368m to prepare brownfield land for new housing.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir told the BBC the money would go towards “housing for all parts of the country”.<\/p>\n
The government has committed to 1.5 million homes over the next five years by reforming the housebuilding system.<\/p>\n
The new money follows the government’s announcement of securing \u00a3550m for housebuilding from three investment funds: Schroders, Man Group, and Resonance, during its investment summit on Monday. <\/p>\n
“We’ve said as a government we’re going to fix the foundations, rebuild our country and expressly saying now is the time to back us,” Sir Keir said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n