The government has broken a manifesto pledge not to increase national insurance as MPs voted to raise NI by 1.25 percentage points yesterday evening.

Labour said that this was a “tax on jobs”, with Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor of the exchequer, saying: “The country is now littered by Tory broken promises torn from the election manifestos of all the members opposite.”

But Jesse Norman, financial secretary to the Treasury, defended the rise, saying: “In a deeper sense, this measure serves to redeem a promise and to discharge an obligation”, referencing the Tories’ manifesto pledge to improve adult social care.