People in the newly Tory seat react to the national insurance hike with a mix of realism and resentment at the effect on the low-paid
In the former red wall seat of Stoke-on-Trent Central, which the Conservatives won for the first time in 2019 with a majority of just 670, opinion on the government’s new plans for health and social care funding was split.
In one camp were many who felt the national insurance hike was justifiable, a post-pandemic necessity to fund a struggling NHS and social care sector, and it was only fair that the burden should be shared across the population.