Jobs Market

Lord Londesborough Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

Noble Lords opposite may groan and sigh, but I am afraid the fact is that we cannot, in a year, undo the damage they did to the economy and the public finances in 14 years. We absolutely have had to take some difficult decisions on national insurance, but we have also taken steps to support employers to hire, including the smallest businesses, by doubling the employment allowance and launching a new employer commitment that sets a minimum service standard for employers working with Jobcentre Plus to fill vacancies. We have engaged with key growth sectors and industrial strategy sectors and have added 151 new employers to our portfolio. This is just a start, but it is going to be a long journey to undo the damage that the Benches opposite did to our country and our economy.

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

My Lords, since the Chancellor announced the £25 billion hike in employers’ national insurance, we have seen the number of people on the PAYE payroll fall in seven of the past eight months, vacancies, especially for SMEs, declining every month and, most worrying of all, GDP per capita and labour productivity both falling. How much more evidence do the Government need before facing up to the fact that raising NICs is not only damaging the employment prospects of the so-called working person but has effectively destroyed that much-vaunted mission of delivering the fastest rate of economic growth in the G7?