29 March 2010 by Emma
In the run-up to any election, nothing's more juicy than a good
debate - and given the position of economic issues at the centre of
all three parties' campaigns,
this evening's debate between the Chancellor and the
chancellors-in-waiting is set to be one of the juciest of all.
And at the forefront of the debate will be national insurance
contributions (NICs), after the Conservatives announced this
morning they will reverse Darling's planned 1p increase in NICs - a
policy which is '
set to form the centrepiece' of the Tory election campaign,
according to insiders.
David Cameron has been ranting about the rise since it was
announced during the pre-Budget report; '
tax on jobs' being his preferred epithet - but with this
announcement, the Tories have bowed to pressure from the shadow
cabinet to come up with solid economic policies, rather than vague
wafflings about tax cuts.
But will it help the Tories' popularity? With the parties now
just five points apart in the polls, and Alistair Darling
enjoying a post-Budget surge in popularity, the Tories
desperately need tonight's debate to go their way.
While putting off the rise in NICs is a nice idea, I'm not sure
it's going to be the Conservatives' election-winning policy: it may
have grabbed some nice headlines today, but in reality, given that
almost three-quarters of businesses in the UK don't have any
employees at all, I doubt it's anything more than an attempt to
shore up popularity before tonight's showdown.
Either way, we will see tonight. Just for the record, my money's
on
Vince Cable to come out on top. Or at least with his dignity
intact.
Image: Flickr