It looks like the time for balancing the books is about to start and all the talk is for the Tories to break another manifesto promise and raise National Insurance.
There are huge disagreements within the cabinet but, it's coming soon and will hit every worker in the country, apart from those who are exempt from paying NI.

With pensioners never having had it so good, they could well be next in line.

I'm sure all our Tory (and new Tory) friends on here will agree that the answer is The Poor. It's only fair that everyone shares in the pain.

As regards pensioners, the tory propaganda machine is already at work.
There's a softening up process in place to get rid of the triple lock.

They'll have to tread carefull though, as most if their core support is from us coffin dodgers.

No need for ageism.

The answer is all of us to some degree. As for breaking a manifesto promise, come on, how on earth could they have predicted an expense like covid. Unless you are saying they should have had a crystal ball.

Are you crackers?
The tories crystal ball predicted no pandemic, so that’s why they ripped up the pandemic plan.


Tax avoiders must be made to pay, like The minister for the 18th century.

When he became leader of the Conservatives and by default PM he stood outside number 10 and clearly stated he had a plan to sort out social care. When the election came along it was not detailed in the manifesto, definitely no reference to an NI increase. We must presume therefore unless he was fibbing that this was what his plan which was long before the pandemic. He is definitely breaking his manifesto promise but not for the first time but you cannot blame this on the pandemic because he had already stated he knew what he was going to do long before it arrived.

Who pays national insurance? Working people.
Who votes Labour? Working people.

They're once again looking for younger people to pay for the costs of the destructive older generation who both had every advantage going over the past however many decades and who got us into the present state. Shameless really.

If we banned the retired from voting we'd be in a much better place as a country.

This has nothing to do with a crystal ball and the increasing national debt, due to covid etc is still to be tackled.
The proposed increase in NI is purely to tackle the welfare crisis. There will be (way) more to come in terms of "tax" increases to pay down the substantially increased national debt.
Some of us have been suggesting for many months that, only when the debt is being cleared, will we find out Johnson and Sunak's strategy for paying down the debt.
The NI change is just the tip of the iceberg.
Vat is likely to be more palatable that any income tax hike but, we will soon see how "levelling up" actually works

I work and pay national insurance and don't vote Labour.
When I was younger I suppose I was paying for MY destructive older generation.
Swings and roundabouts.

Don't be obtuse. If only people of working age had voted the Tories would have lost the last election.

And I don't think we've ever had an older generation so well off who have benefitted from so many policies that they've then taken away from younger people, be it the benefits of the EU right down to free university education.

Why am I being obtuse? I didn't have a free university education. I also had no free child care.. My wife had to stay at home to look after them. We had to live on one wage.
Like I said swings and roundabouts

Not so much anymore....

More than ever if anything. The Tories only got in last time because of the pensioner vote. People of working ages skewed massively to Labour.

Absolute rubbish

Do you find figures a challenge?

The splits by age group are really not hard to find.

Of working age is not necessarily working people

I've looked at the YouGov website mate ,under the age of 34 ,were more likely to have voted Labour, above that Tory

Labour only seem interested in race and gender politics these days. Not really a concern for 99% of people

More likely to be Labours shambollic Brexit policy and a leader that very few wanted anywhere near no 10.
Yes, the Tories do have a very strong share of the "silver" vote but, hopefully that may change when the financial screw is turned and everyone will be affected.
The triple lock will be gone and as we are now seeing, their manifesto doesn't count for too much.

That is bang on ,brexit policy and Corbyn drove the working man to Tory,can't see w why people can't understand that

We'll see about pensions but National Insurance is a tax chosen precisely because pensioners don't pay it.

It drove some WWC men to the Tories, God help them. But it also has driven younger voters away from the Tories for a generation. The medium-term demographics for the Tories are horrifying.

Are you talking about policy or are you talking about what the press want you to think they are talking about?

The problem with both national insurance and vat is that they disproportionately affect the less well off. Hence they are regressive rather than progressive taxes.

Taxing those who are more able to pay are progressive taxes.

Increases in regressive taxes runs completely counter to levelling up

We have been supplied with the old decommissioned pacer trains from southern railways because ours are still in use to be converted into classrooms for northern children to be educated in. I wonder if these are now classed as new schools.