Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has been criticised by former civil society minister Stuart Andrew over the government’s hike in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) in a debate in parliament yesterday.
Now shadow culture secretary, Andrew quoted estimates that the tax could cost charities over £1.4bn and challenged Nandy on how the sector would fund the increase.
At the same debate, Conservative MP Paul Holmes told Nandy that “the charitable sector is in real danger because of this government’s decisions”.
The debate came after chancellor Rachel Reeves told sector bodies earlier this week that she would be offering no concessions to charities over the £1.4bn increase.
Andrew criticises government’s response
Andrew criticised the government’s response to charities’ concerns about the NICs increase, saying: “They [charities] face a £1.4bn bill. When they needed help the most, we [the Conservative government] gave them £100m.
“Her government are now going to take 14 times that amount back from them. We heard yesterday that the Teenage Cancer Trust will have to find an extra £300,000, and Marie Curie reports having to find nearly £3m.
“Where does the secretary of state suggest that such organisations find the money to pay this charity tax, and who will fill the gaps if charities have to scale back on their work as a result of this government’s decisions?”
Nandy was quick to respond, comparing the current government’s fiscal policies for the charity sector to those of its predecessors, arguing that under the last government, charities faced “a perfect storm.”
She said: “Not only did they receive very little support from the government – in fact, they were silenced and gagged, and were told by one charities minister that they should be ‘sticking to their knitting’, which, in my view, was deeply offensive – but they had to deal with the rising pressures of the cost-of-living crisis, and the mess that the right hon gentleman’s party was making of running the country.
“Our government are determined to take action on this, and we were elected on a pledge to do so. As I have told the right hon gentleman’s colleagues previously, we are protecting our charities, as was announced in the budget, and I will take no lectures from the Conservatives on how to run this country.”
Sector ‘in real danger’
Later in the debate, Holmes raised concerns about the impact on local hospices, with Mountbatten Hospice in his Hampshire constituency reportedly at risk of losing vital funding due to the tax.
He asked: “Can the secretary of state outline what pressure she will put on the Treasury to make sure that the policy changes? The charitable sector is in real danger because of this government’s decisions.”
Nandy responded by defending Labour’s approach, saying that she was already discussing this issue with health secretary Wes Streeting, whom she described as being “acutely aware” of the “situation facing hospices”.
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