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Chancellor concedes employers’ National Insurance boost will likely lead to smaller pay rises
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves carries the traditional red ministerial box containing her budget speech, as she leaves No 11 Downing Street on her way to the House of Commons to deliver the budget, in London, October 30, 2024

LOWER pay, higher rents and working harder for longer clouded Britain’s prospects further today as Rachel Reeves’s Budget measures sank in.

The Chancellor conceded that the boost to employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions was likely to lead to smaller pay rises for millions.

And independent think tanks warned that the Budget meant that workers would be no better off at the end of this parliament than now, meaning Britain’s stagnant wage crisis could run for at least 20 years.

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