Digby set to deliver hard-hitting message to businesses
ONE of the leading figures of British industry is set to bring a hard-hitting message to businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Former Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Digby Jones will urge the Government to abolish National Insurance contributions for employers when he speaks at the 10th Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Economic Conference in September.
Lord Jones, the former Director General of the CBI, said: “I urge the Government to say that National Insurance contributions for employers will be abolished.
“It is the only tax in Britain that taxes jobs. With every other tax, you only pay if you are in receipt of a wage. If you are making money then you pay some over. As a business, you only pay Corporation Tax if you are making money.
“With National Insurance for employers, you can have a loss making business which employs people and you are taxed for doing so. That is mad.”
He said income tax should also be abolished for those on the minimum wage.
“Surely it is right for young people who work to take home more money than they would if they were on the dole,” he added.
Lord Jones said strong Government action on tax, a comprehensive overhaul of the education and training system and a greater emphasis on export could haul the UK out of recession.
However, he is expected to tell the chamber conference he is not overly confident about the first part of his recipe for recovery.
“I don’t think the Government get it. I don’t think they understand it. They would rather have a headline about a lower rate of tax than actually getting to the sharp end and really helping businesses employ people.
“And that is not because they have not been in business; it is because they have done nothing with their lives outside politics,” he said.
“A brave coalition would say, let’s try to address that and have a proper discussion about it. Experience of the real world is vital. Let’s have an argument about it.
“It’s a combination of two things – trading our way out of the current situation and being equipped to trade our way out and if we don’t do that then China will have your lunch and India will have your dinner. It’s as simple as that.”
The chamber conference takes place on September 16 at the Coventry University Technocentre. Other speakers include Sir Peter Rigby and David Frost, chief executive of the British Chambers of Commerce.
