Chancellor plans to slash National Insurance payments to spark hiring spree by coronavirus-hit businesses

RISHI Sunak is considering slashing National Insurance contributions to spark a hiring spree by virus-hit firms.

The Chancellor believes the move will help struggling businesses get back on their feet.

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He will set out his plan for NICs in the coming weeks.

Boris Johnson yesterday revealed the blueprint to help Britain “bounce forward” will be revealed soon.

The PM told Brits that while the lockdown has been “expensive”, Britain will “come back”.

He said: “Over the course of days and weeks you will be hearing a lot more from me and the Chancellor about how we want to bounce forward as a country.

“How we are going to double down on our programme of uniting and levelling up with infrastructure, education, technology.”

After wages, NICs are the biggest cost for bosses.

It costs an employer £2,400 on average for every person they employ, according to experts at the Institute for Employment Studies.

A source told The Sun a cut is being considered by the Treasury but no final decision has been made.

The move would be a boost for business chiefs who have warned that a walloping from NICs puts them off hiring.

It comes as fresh figures revealed Britain’s public debt is larger than the size of the country’s entire economic output.

The coronavirus crisis sent public borrowing to a record £55.2billion in May, the Office for National Statistics said.

UK debt has ballooned to £1.95trillion — or 100.9 per cent of GDP. It is the first time debt has been bigger than the economy since 1963.

It is not as high as the post-war peak of 258 per cent in 1946-47.