𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Football pundit Gary Neville has admitted that Rachel Reeves’s National Insurance increase has been a ”challenge”. The prominent Labour supporter, who owns hotels and restaurants, said he thought the Chancellor’s hike on businesses “could have been held back”.

Since retiring from football, the former England and Manchester United player has built up a business empire including commercial properties, hotels and media companies. When asked whether he understood the strain that many small businesses are feeling at the moment, he said: “I do.

“It’s been a tough economy now for a good few years, and I did think that once there was a change of government and once there’s some stability, that we would get something settling.

“But it’s not settling locally in our country, but it is not settling, actually, to be fair, in many places in the world either.

“I don’t think we can ever criticise the Government for increasing the minimum wage. I honestly believe that people, to be fair, should be paid more, so I don’t think that’s something that you can be critical of.

“I do think that the National Insurance rise, though, was a challenge, accepting that we need to raise money for services.

“We all talk about the requirement of great transport, great education, great health service, you know, great police and sort of emergency services. We all want these things in our lives. We want these in our country, and the money has got to come from somewhere.”

The Sky Sports pundit made the comments while speaking to Business Live on Sky News, in a programme that will air on Wednesday.

Mr Neville runs a raft of businesses including League Two club Salford City, which he owns as part of a group including Sir David Beckham and US businessman Declan Kelly.

He said: “But I honestly don’t believe that, to be fair, companies and small businesses should be deterred from employing people. So I think the National Insurance rise was one that I feel probably could have been held back.

“Particularly in terms of the way in which the economy was, but I don’t think we can be critical of increasing the minimum wage. I think that’s something that ultimately we should all be championing, that people get paid more and that people are fairly looked after.”

In the 2024 autumn Budget, Ms Reeves announced the rate of employers’ National Insurance Contributions would increase from 13.8% to 15% from April 6, 2025.