Sheffield residents react to social care funding tax hike

The Prime Minister confirmed he planned to break the Tories’ manifesto pledge by raising National Insurance by 1.25 percent.

Labour said while it agreed with the need for reform, the proposed rise in NI would ‘unfairly target’ young people and lower earners.

A 1.25 percent increase would mean someone on a £30,000 salary would pay an additional £255 a year.

Pensioner Pea Hodder said while she understands why people would not want to pay more for their insurance, it would still benefit them in the long-term.

The 82-year-old said: "I'm not going to criticise Boris Johnson because of this. People have got to be looked after to live longer and we (my husband and I) are in that stage now and just managing.

"I paid my national insurance. I can understand why people don't want to pay more but it's going to happen to them when they get old."

But student and professional gambler John Morris said he wouldn't agree if lower income earners would need to pay a lot more as this would significantly affect their financial situations.

He said: "I wouldn't know if 1.25 percent increase is too much or not - if you put a number like that, it's almost meaningless.

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"It's like when you cut the universal credit, that's like £25 a week which sounds like nothing but it means a lot to someone who is struggling.

"If you earn £100,000 a year you can pay a lot more tax, but you wouldn’t have to tax people who are earning a lot less."

As for retired precision engineer Berisford Small, 77, he believes that the government will still proceed with the proposals - whether or not the people like them.

"I've been in this country for 60 years now as far as I'm concerned, this doesn't matter much to me. But I worry for the younger ones,” he said.

"We all can say what we feel but they are in Parliament, they make the decision and my views are nothing to them."

Conservatives promised not to raise NI, income tax or VAT during the 2019 general election.

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