UK politics live: Starmer warned employer national insurance hike ‘will mean lower wages for workers’

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that any increase to employers’ national insurance contributions in the upcoming Budget could mean lower wages for workers.

Helen Miller, deputy director and head of tax at the IFS said that any increase to employers’ national insurance contributions could be passed onto workers.

She said: “Lots of questions about Employer NICs today. They are a tax on the earnings of working people. In the long run, expect the majority of a rise in employer NICs to be passed on to workers in the form of lower wages.”

David Cameron has hit back at the claim he threatened to “f***” Boris Johnson up forever if he backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, saying he finds it “hard to believe”.

Lord Cameron channelled the late Queen Elizabeth II in saying “recollections differ” after Mr Johnson had claimed those were his “exact words”.

Speaking out for the first time since Mr Johnson made the explosive claim, Lord Cameron said: “I find that hard to believe.”

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has made a dramatic intervention warning Rachel Reeves that she must raise national insurance in her Budget on 30 October.

According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the chancellor has an estimated £25bn black hole to fill in order to meet Labour’s spending commitments.

But in an open letter published in The Independent, Lord King warns her against higher borrowing.

Our political editor David Maddox reports

Unemployed people will be given weight-loss jabs to assist them back into work in a trial.

The UK’s life sciences sector will receive £279 million from drugs giant Eli Lilly, to invest in developing new medicines and ways to deliver treatment.

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of the NHS praised weight-loss drugs as “game-changers” in supporting people to reduce their risk of life-threatening conditions.

Jabed Ahmed reports

Health secretary Wes Streeting has said the new hospitals programme will be delivered on a “credible” timetable.

The government announced in July that all projects within the programme promised by the previous Conservative administration would be placed under a spending review, with 25 schemes still under consideration.

Mr Streeting noted a proposed redevelopment is “desperately” needed for Whipps Cross Hospital, in east London, which serves his Ilford North constituency.

He told Tory former minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith: “That is why, in common with so many Members right across the House, I am absolutely furious that the previous government had a new hospitals programme whose timetable was a work of fiction and where the money runs out in March.

“The assurance I can give him, his constituents, my constituents and the constituents of every other MP across the House whose constituents are waiting for news on the new hospitals programme, is we will deliver that programme, we will deliver it on a timetable that is credible and a programme that is funded, giving our constituents the clarity that they deserve, the consistency that they deserve and also rebuilding faith in government amongst our construction industry and supply chain.”

During the election Labour made a clear promise “not to raise taxes on working people”. This specifically included income tax, VAT and national insurance contributions.

The problem Rachel Reeves has as her first Budget approaches on 30 October is that somehow she has to pay for an estimated £25bn in spending commitments and encourage economic growth with little room for manoeuvre.

Her former Bank of England mentor Lord Mervyn King has warned her against extra borrowing even by rewriting the fiscals and suggested she raises national insurance instead to invest.

It is clear from the prime minister’s words this morning that national insurance rises on employer contributions is now a strong possibility. But does this mean a breach in the manifesto promises from just over 100 days ago?

The Tories say yes - they would - but so does the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson.

It appears that Labour are planning on using a lawyer’s way out - appropriate for the prime minister - to emphasise that their pledge was “for working people” not employers.

Downing Street has ruled out scrapping voter ID before the May local elections next year.

Asked whether there was any prospect of the rules being abandoned soon, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Not ahead of the May local elections.”

Number 10 acknowledged “inconsistencies” in some voter ID rules after being asked whether it would be adding any kind of cards that young people can use.

Asked whether the government was committed to the principle of voter ID, he said: “There is a review of voter ID under way to address some of the inconsistencies in voter ID rules.”

In an earlier post today we reported that the government have changed the rules so that veterans’ ID cards will be a valid form of identification for upcoming elections.

In an open letter, former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King shares his advice for the chancellor ahead of her first ever Budget

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has made a dramatic intervention warning Rachel Reeves that she must raise national insurance in her Budget on 30 October.

According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the chancellor has an estimated £25bn black hole to fill in order to meet Labour’s spending commitments.

But in an open letter published in The Independent, Lord King warns her against higher borrowing.

Our political editor David Maddox reports