LABOUR appears to be considering raises to employers’ National Insurance and a loosening of Treasury fiscal rules in the forthcoming Budget.

Premier Sir Keir Starmer conspicuously declined to rule out either move at Prime Minister’s Questions when pressed by the Tories on his plans.

Lame-duck Tory leader Rishi Sunak pressed him on both National Insurance and methods of calculating debt, but Sir Keir dodged commitments as he struggles to square his pledges of no return to austerity, fiscal probity and the “black hole” in the public finances he claims to have inherited.

Mr Starmer did say that “we made an absolute commitment in relation to not raising tax on working people.”

This covered income tax rates, VAT and employee National Insurance contributions but leaves the door open to bosses paying more.

And Chancellor Rachel Reeves is believed to be looking at new ways of calculating government net debt to give her the flexibility to borrow more for investment without breaching her self-imposed rules.