Greg Johnson, managing director of Warwick North West, a window and door manufacturer based in Bootle, says it is a measure that could be painfully felt.

He says:

“It is not so much the 1.2% rise in employer contributions, but the lowering of the threshold that could hit business owners hardest.

“Warwick employs more than 120 people at our factory in North Liverpool. By some very quick and loose calculations the cost implications for me as a business owner could be close to £100,000.

“We are very lucky to be in a position to be able to stomach the blow in the short term. Many other businesses might not be.

Greg welcomed some of Rachel Reeves’ comments though, adding:

“I thought on the whole the announcements were palatable, there were perhaps not quite the many nasty surprises many of us anticipated.

“I’ll be interested to see the detail on Labour’s commitment to affordable housebuilding in the coming weeks.”