Martin Lewis reacts to Budget asking ‘who is going to pay for it?’ after cut to beer prices & minimum wage increases
Date: 2024-10-30MARTIN Lewis has reacted to Rachel Reeves’ Budget by asking “who is going to pay for it?”
The Chancellor used the first Labour Budget in almost 15 years to raise eye-watering sums from bosses, smokers and drinkers.
At its heart was a massive £25billion National Insurance raid on firms by raising the headline employer rate from 13.8 to 15 per cent.
But the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com asked how the businesses will pay for a £615 per employee surge.
He wrote on X: “The change of threshold so employers now start paying National Insurance at £5,000 not £9,100 is big.
“For the employers who pay it, at the new 15% rate that alone’s £615 increased cost per most employees per year.
“The question is where will that money come from, profits, increasing charges or reducing salaries/benefits?”
Lewis continued: “The reason I say ‘for employers who pay it’ is because the Employers Allowance for NI has been increased from £5,000 to £10,500 a year (so this is amount off employers NI bill) so small businesses won’t pay it.”
Ms Reeves made history as the UK’s first female Chancellor when she delivered Wednesday’s Budget.
In her speech she said the “prize on offer” is “immense”.
She laid out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, pave the way for more affordable homes and rebuild crumbling schools.
Ms Reeves added: “More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it.
“An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all.
“Because that is the only way to improve living standards.”
Harking back to the Labour governments of Attlee, Wilson and Blair, Ms Reeves said it is “not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain”.
The Chancellor warned that the tax hikes and borrowing increases she is considering may not be enough to undo “14 years of damage” to the NHS, despite plans to pump billions of pounds into the health service.
WATCH RACHEL REEVES ON NEVER MIND THE BALLOTS
By Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor
RACHEL Reeves will be grilled in a special Budget edition of The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show today.
Our Political Editor Harry Cole will put the Chancellor on the spot shortly after she’s finished delivering her crucial address in the House of Commons.
It will be available to watch on thesun.co.uk, YouTube and Sun social channels at 5.30pm.
Topics will include her decision on whether to spare motorists a fuel duty rise, and the expected eye-watering tax rises she will impose.
Since its launch earlier this year, NMTB has cemented its place at the heart of British politics.
During the General Election campaign The Sun was the only print publisher to host back-to-back grillings of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
Footage from The Election Showdown has been viewed over 15 million times.
NMTB has also featured interviews with ex-PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as well as senior politicians Nigel Farage, James Cleverly, Wes Streeting, Steve Reed and Bridget Phillipson
