There is not much point in delaying the House unnecessarily. Our main objection to this section was outlined in detail by me yesterday during my Second Stage speech. We object to the concept that the increases being levied both on employees and employers are double last year's increases and this is happening at a time when employees and their unions are being asked to accept moderation in the proposed wage agreement and employers are being urged to take on extra staff. The point was made that a firm employing 100 extra people would find that their bill for social welfare contributions would amount to an extra £5,000 a year.
Objection was also raised to the concept of reducing by £1 per week the social welfare contributions for employees earning less than £50 a week from January and taking back 28p of that reduction from the beginning of April. I felt that was deceitful and represented a sleight of hand and was not a proper approach. I do not accept the Minister's earlier explanation that part of the reason for the increase in the stamp was to finance social welfare increases which came into effect last autumn. Every Government do their housekeeping and make up their accounts at the end of the financial year, assess how much they will need for the following year and introduce their budget accordingly. When the budget is introduced the methods of paying for the moneys to be spent in one form or another should be outlined.
On the Health Contributions Bill last week I said that when one asks people what they think of a budget which appears to have distributed largesse without looking for additional taxation their reaction usually is, "I do not know how they are going to do it but they are going to take it from you some way". I said that that Bill was one of the ways they were going to take this money but I did not think that less than one week later I would be standing up and saying that this was another and major way in which the Government intend financing their budget. If increases like this are being announced it should be done in the budget.