Start how you mean to go on? Well, not if you’re senior Tory Alex Burghart. The Deputy Leader of The Conservative Party was left flummoxed by a rather simple question about his party’s latest policy, which vows to halve the rate of employer national insurance tax for young people.
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Tories announce plans to cut NI for youth workers – catching Deputy Leader off-guard
The Tory Conference has been taking place in Birmingham this week, sparking a flurry of policy proposals from the party in opposition. Fanciful suggestions on tax cuts and defence have already made headlines – but tongues were set wagging once more, as leader Kemi Badenoch gave her backing to the plans.
She has described the proposal – which aims to slash the rate of employer NI contributions for 21-24 year-olds from 15% to 7.5% – as ‘fiscally credible’. Though the maths are yet to be properly sketched out, it has been suggested that major cuts to welfare and Whitehall will foot the bill.
Both Labour and Reform have publicly criticised the policy, with the former insisting that ‘another unfunded tax cut’ would be reckless, and the latter claiming that it simply ‘does not go far enough’. It was then left to Alex Burghart to defend the latest Tory offering to the public.
How much will new Tory policy cost? Don’t ask Alex Burghart…
It didn’t go according to plan. Speaking with Times Radio on Wednesday morning, Mr. Burghart remembered the the age range and where the money would come from – but crucially, he forgot the projected cost of £2.3 billion. On this evidence, it’s easy to see how the mini-budget disaster of 2022 happened…
“Today we are setting out plans to halve the jobs tax for young people up to the age of 25, so that companies can hire more young people. That’s an example of a tax cut which can get the economy moving, enabling businesses to hire more people and expand further.”
“The policy is fully-costed. We will fund it by making cuts to welfare, and to Whitehall. As for the cost of it? I’m sorry, I have forgotten that detail. But I can tell you that it will be fully funded and paid for by reducing public spending on working-age welfare, and cutting costs [in the Civil Service].” | Alex Burghart