Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of costs for businesses on unemployment levels.

This question was answered on 2nd March 2026

Economic growth is this government’s number one priority.

Businesses have choices about how they respond to changes in their costs, including through adjusting profits, prices, and patterns of employment, meaning employment is not mechanically affected by any increase in costs.

The OBR’s November forecast, which accounts for the impacts of government policy, judge that employment will increase in every year of the forecast, and will be higher in every year, than in their Spring 2025 forecast.