Brown gets away with it
If ever a country was prepared for a rise in employees' national insurance contributions it was this one. By last Tuesday every financial commentator worth his or her salt was predicting the hike in Wednesday's Budget.
It’s a shame the government did not do similar preparatory work for the rise in employers’ contributions. To say they have not gone down well would be something of an understatement.
But if the results of this week’s Accountancy Age/Reed Accountancy Personnel Big Question are anything to go by, Gordon Brown must have got away with it. Some 43% of the 362 FDs polled said they believed the balance of measures right for the UK. A comparatively slight 35% said not. So with that qualified pat on the back, Brown appears to have got away with his juggling act.
He now just needs to sort out the NHS.
