The National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) Bill would give effect to reduced national insurance rates announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the 2023 autumn statement.
National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) Bill (319 KB , PDF)
The National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) Bill is a government bill that was introduced in the House of Commons on 23 November 2023. The bill has been fast tracked by the government and it completed all its House of Commons stages on 30 November 2023.
The bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 4 December 2023 and is due to have its second reading and all other stages on 12 December 2023.
The purpose of the bill is to give effect to three changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) announced by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in the autumn statement on 22 November 2023. These were:
During its House of Commons stages the bill received broad cross-party support and it passed without amendment. However, the opposition criticised the government for the wider economic context in which the bill’s measures were being introduced, including the assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that most of the gains from reducing NICs rates would be counteracted by freezes to both income tax and NICs thresholds.
National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) Bill (319 KB , PDF)
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
The Budget Responsibility Bill would require ministers to request an assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for every major fiscal announcement and give the OBR the power to decide to publish one if the minister failed to request it. This follows the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’. The statement included plans that would have resulted in a projected £45bn reduction in tax income. It did not have an accompanying OBR assessment.
In November 2023, the Harrington review of foreign direct investment made recommendations about how the UK could attract more cross-border investment. The new Labour government has said tackling barriers to investment is a priority.
