保守党承诺，在英国年轻人失业率上升的背景下，将企业为20多岁员工缴纳的税款减半，以重塑其经济能力的声誉。
The Conservatives pledged to halve the tax businesses pay on employees in their early 20s as the UK’s main opposition party seeks to restore its reputation for economic competence and tackle a rise in joblessness among young people.
该党周二表示，将把企业为年龄21至24岁员工缴纳的主要国民保险费率（NI）从目前的水平减半至7.5%。该政策每年耗资23亿英镑（约合31亿美元），并可为企业节省平均每名年轻员工1545英镔，据该党在邮件声明中称。保守党承诺，将在周三详细说明如何为这一计划筹集资金。
The party said Tuesday that it would halve the main rate of employer national insurance (NI) that firms currently pay for workers aged 21 to 24 to 7.5%. The policy comes at a cost of £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) a year and will save companies an average of £1,545 per young person employed, it said in an emailed statement. The Tories promised to spell out how they will pay for the plan on Wednesday.
“我们之所以这样做，是因为年轻人失业率急剧上升,”保守党领袖凯米·巴登诺赫(Kemi Badenoch)在BBC电视台表示。“存在大学毕业生招聘危机，如果年轻人无法尽早找到工作，这将影响他们终生收入。”在下一次普选举票倒计时约三年之际，巴登诺赫正试图从2024年的惨败——该党历史上最糟糕的一次失利——中重建她的党队。这包括推出去监管化和减税的计划，同时她也在努力恢复该党作为自称的商业党的形象。
“We need to do this because youth unemployment has skyrocketed,” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told BBC TV. “There’s a graduate recruitment crisis, and if young people don’t get a job early, that impacts their lifetime earnings.”With just under three years to go before the deadline for the next general election, Badenoch is trying to rebuild her party from the rout in 2024, its worst ever defeat. That includes rolling out plans for deregulation and tax cuts as she also seeks to restore its brand as the self-styled party of business.
托利计划的核心是应对近年来上升至十多年来最高点的年轻人失业率，这一率率首次超过欧盟平均水平。2026年第二季度，有98.1万名16至24岁年轻人既不在接受教育也不在就业或培训中，这被称为“NEET危机”。
At the root of the Tory plan is an attempt to get to grips with youth unemployment that’s risen in recent years to its highest rate in over a decade and above the European Union average for the first time. In the second quarter of 2026, some 981,000 16- to 24-year-olds were not in education, employment or training, in what’s become known as a NEET crisis.
托利的提议还清晰地与执政的工党拉开了分歧。工党于2025年4月将企业国民保险费率的基准税率从13.8%提高至15%，这一政策是在2024年10月宣布的，是该党回归执政后的首份预算案。
The Tory proposal also opens a clear divide with the governing Labour Party, which in April 2025 raised the headline rate of employer NI to 15% from 13.8%, a policy that was announced in October 2024, in the party’s first budget after returning to office.
巴德诺克告诉英国广播公司，她希望为所有工人削减NI税，但必须优先考虑年轻人，以她确定的节省。“如果我能为每个人削减开支，我向你保证我会的，”她说。
Badenoch told the BBC she’d like to cut NI tax for all workers, but had to prioritize young people with the savings she had identified. “If I could afford to cut it for everybody, I promise you that I would,” she said.
目前，除了21岁以下收入最高的工人外，雇主不为所有人支付国民保险。保守党表示，21至24岁的人年收入超过50，270英镑的人仍需缴纳15%的雇主国民保险费率。
Employers currently pay no national insurance for all but the highest paid workers under 21. Earnings above £50,270 a year for those aged 21 to 24 will still be subject to the 15% employer national insurance rate, the Tories said.
7月，议会跨党派工作和养老金委员会表示，企业有“压倒性的证据”表明，就业成本上升（包括工党国民生育率增加）正在减少就业机会，年轻人“不成比例地影响”增税。它呼吁削减NI，以解决青年失业的“讽刺”问题。
In July, Parliament’s cross-party Work and Pensions Committee said there was “overwhelming evidence” from businesses that rising employment costs including as a result of Labour’s NI increase, were reducing job opportunities, with young people “disproportionately impacted” by the tax increases. It called for an NI cut, in order to tackle the “travesty” of youth unemployment.
除了反对北爱尔兰2025年的举措外，企业还批评工党提高青年最低工资和该党的《就业权利法案》，该法案赋予员工更多权利，并包括更严格的解雇限制等措施。
As well as opposing the NI move in 2025, businesses have criticized Labour’s increase to the youth minimum wage and the party’s Employment Rights Act, which gave employees more rights and included measures such as stronger restrictions on dismissals.
政府密切关注这个问题，并已委托前内阁部长艾伦·米尔伯恩（Alan Milburn）对NETS问题进行审查，该审查即将报告。上个月，彭博社报道称，由于担心该政策会损害就业率，部长们正在考虑缩减青年最低工资的计划增长。这也是米尔本暗示他可以提出的建议。
The government is live to the issue, and has commissioned a review by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn on the issue of NEETS, which is due to report imminently. Last month, Bloomberg reported ministers are considering scaling back planned increases to the youth minimum wage due to concerns the policy is hurting employment rates. That’s also a recommendation Milburn has signaled he could make.
在周二的一轮采访中，巴德诺克暗示她将在明天的党代会演讲中宣布废除遗产税的承诺，并告诉天空电视台：“我们为什么不等到明天，让人们听听我的想法。”她将维持养老金三重锁描述为保守党政策，总理安迪·伯纳姆计划改变这一政策，但她告诉英国独立电视台，辩论中“双方都有非常值得尊敬的论点”。
In her round of interviews on Tuesday, Badenoch hinted that she will announce a pledge to scrap inheritance tax in her party conference speech tomorrow, telling Sky: “Why don’t we wait tomorrow and let people hear what I think about it.”She described maintaining the pension triple lock, which Prime Minister Andy Burnham plans to change, as a Conservative policy, but told ITV “there are very respectable arguments on both sides” of the debate.
巴德诺克还告诉英国新闻，在美国将B-1轰炸机移出英国皇家空军费尔福德空军基地后，她担心美国“认为我们不是一个认真的国家”。在曼城足球俱乐部在财务调查中被判有罪后，她呼吁伯纳姆公布有关他与曼城足球俱乐部和阿拉伯联合酋长国互动的文件。
Badenoch also told GB News she was worried the US “think that we’re not a serious country,” after it moved its B-1 bombers out of the RAF Fairford air base. And she called on Burnham to release documents relating to his interactions with Manchester City Football Club and the United Arab Emirates, after the club was found guilty in a financial probe.
巴德诺克告诉英国广播公司：“我对他介入这个话题的方式感到非常惊讶。”政府不应该“参与足球运动并对其进行修修补补。让球迷和俱乐部正确地管理自己。”
“I was very surprised at the way he waded in on this subject,” Badenoch told be BBC. The government should not be “getting involved in football and tinkering with it. Let the fans and the clubs run themselves properly.”