Ed Davey is today calling for the ministers to take action to prevent many of Britain’s high streets being lost forever after a year of lockdown. Speaking to the Sun, he said the Employment Allowance should quadruple from £4,000 to £16,000.
The cut would help 1.2 million firms struggling to stay afloat by lower tax bills and lifting them out of the requirement to pay National Insurance Contributions.
Davey tells the newspaper his plan is aimed at helping struggling hairdressers, chippies, cafes and local pubs.
Newshound hopes dog groomers are included. And like all dogs, he is a fan of chippies, cafes and, most of all, pubs that serve pork scratchings.
From Newshound, woofing for the Lib Dems.
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3 Comments
Unfortunate that the Sun, as part of the story, included a picture of Ed alongside David Cameron and reminding readers that he served in the Conservative/liberal Democrat government. The damage done to the Liberal Democrats by choosing to join the Conservatives has been massive and may take decades to undo. Every reminder of that coalition makes recovery less likely – one reason I do not think it helpful that the current Lib Dem leader served as a minister alongside the Tories. (I realise that with so few MPs to choose from, Ed appeared a strong candidate, but I would have preferred an MP first elected after 2015 so as to cut the link to the previous Conservative/Lib Dem government.)
Increasing the employers allowance from £4,000 to £16,000 is a good initiative from Ed.
For December 2020, average total pay, before tax and other deductions, for employees in Great Britain was estimated at £571 per week i.e. £29,692 per year. Employers national insurance is 13.8% on earnings over £9500 i.e £2786 on average per employee.
The newspaper article writes ” “Some firms are teetering on the edge – this targeted move would help your average small business to employ five employees on average pay – without any paying any of this jobs tax.”
If this increase in the employment allowance were coupled with removal of the NI threshold of £9,500 for employers national insurance, larger employers would more than cover the increased allowance for smaller employers and still help your average small business to employ four employees on average pay – without paying this jobs tax.
This is an excellent initiative from Ed.
Keep planting a flag on national Conservative territory – appeal to small businesses, (aspiring) home owners etc.
Could really have done this more in the last 3 elections in my view.