Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, has voted against Conservative moves to raise National Insurance by 1.25% for working families and 1.25% for businesses this week, slamming the government for “placing an enormous burden on hard working people.”

The Labour Party strongly opposes the unfair jobs tax, with the National Insurance tax rise representing the biggest rise in taxes on families for over 50 years, and the third tax rise in recent months from the UK Government following rises in council tax and personal allowances earlier in the year.

In Wales, the Welsh Labour Government has consistently invested in the social care sector, introducing a cap on weekly contribution rates for non-residential social care to ensure people can keep more of their own hard-earned savings before paying for their own care.  The Welsh Government has ambitious plans for social care in this term, including paying social care staff a real living wage.

Welsh Labour remains concerned that, whilst additional funding for social care in Wales would be welcome, doing so by increasing National Insurance contributions will place new financial burdens on the lowest paid workers which in turn places a significant burden on employers at a time when the economy is trying to recover from the pandemic.

Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, said:

“This manifesto-breaking, unfair tax on jobs is not the way to fix the social care crisis and could have a devastating impact on working families in Ogmore.  This is a tax rise that means a landlord renting out dozens of properties in Ogmore wouldn’t pay a penny more, but their tenants working full time jobs would.

With the cut to Universal Credit coming at the end of the month, the Tories are creating a perfect storm for family finances.  After the difficulties of the last 18 months, it is just wrong that the frontline workers who got us through some of the darkest days the pandemic are now going to be hit with a double whammy of cuts to social security and tax rises.

Under a Labour government, those with the broadest shoulders would be asked to contribute more, any changes would be fair across generations, and all forms of income would be considered.”