Boss Gavin backs NI rise protest

AN award-winning Oldham business is one of 1,000 small and medium-sized companies backing Conservative Party plans to reverse part of the planned rise in National Insurance contributions.

Applied Language Solutions chief executive Gavin Wheeldon, of Delph, has put his name to a letter stating that “stopping the NI rise will protect jobs and support the recovery.”

The businesses, which come from across the country and range in size from sole traders to regional employers, say that putting up national insurance will “endanger the recovery”.

Mr Wheeldon said: “It is very simple, it has been banded around it is a tax on jobs.

As it stands we have plans to take on another 60 people. We have offices around the world and now I have to think ‘do I put those jobs in the UK if it is going to cost me more money to do so, or is it better I put them in Spain or America for example?’

It will cost about £40,000 a year in national insurance which is two jobs. It has a direct effect on the amount of people who can be employed.”

Labour hit back with a letter signed by 77 leading academics opposing Conservative plans for an extra £6bn efficiency savings before April next year.

The economists said the Tory “cut” — which would fund the party’s partial reversal of the NI rise — could tip the economy back into recession leading to more job losses.

The letter states: “This is not the time for such a destabilising action. The recovery is still fragile. Firms and households are saving more to rebuild their balance sheets.

“This means that firms are investing less and households are spending less.

“Only when the recovery is well under way, will it be safe to have extra cuts in government expenditure.

“The first step is to make sure that growth returns, and thus that tax receipts recover.

“Rash action now could imperil not only jobs but also the prospects for reducing the deficit.”

Earlier this week, Applied Language Solutions received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the highest accolade that can be bestowed on a UK business.

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