A NEWLY elected SNP MP has called on Andy Burnham to scrap Labour’s “short-sighted” hike to employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) amid growing unemployment rates. In April 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased employers’ NICs from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent as well as lowering the threshold at which they paid it from £9,100 to £5,000, now Lara Bird has pointed to new research to argue the policy is “choking off” economic growth in Scotland.