Rishi Sunak: I’ll slash benefits to fund plan to scrap national insurance

Cuts to benefits could be used to fund the abolition of national insurance contributions (NICs) for workers by the end of the next parliament, prime minister Rishi Sunak has suggested in a pitch to voters ahead of the general election.

Mr Sunak, whose party trails Labour by a double-digit margin in most opinion polls, insisted that “significant progress” could be made towards eliminating NICs during the next parliament after the idea was floated by the chancellor in the spring Budget.

In a Sunday Times interview, Mr Sunak set out his intention to consult on new plans to reduce working-age benefits “to make sure that we can sustainably keep cutting taxes”.

Mr Sunak stressed his commitment to ending the “unnecessarily complex” system of having both income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs).

“All that money ultimately goes into the same pot to fund public services. So … our long-term ambition is to end that unfairness, to keep cutting NICs until it’s gone, because that is the best way to reward hard work, simplify the tax system, and build the kind of society that I think is right,” he said.

The plan to end the double taxation of work by scrapping national insurance was attacked as an unfunded promise by Labour, which pointed out it would cost the Exchequer around £46bn.