Rachel Reeves said in her Budget speech that becoming Britain’s first female Chancellor showed young girls that there should be no ceiling on their ambitions.
So her critics say it is a bitter irony that her £25billion National Insurance tax raid – and particularly the lowering of the threshold at which the levy kicks in – will take its heaviest toll on female workers.
Those in the firing line include hair salons – a service Reeves made the most of ahead of the Budget as she dyed her hair red before reverting to a chestnut shade, closer to her original colour.
Industry groups say those working part-time in the sector, where nine out of ten are women, will be ‘the first people to be let go’ as firms grapple with higher payroll costs.
Budget cuts: Chancellor Rachel Reeves dyed her hair red ahead of the Budget before reverting to a chestnut shade, closer to her original colour
‘About 90 per cent of our industry is female and 65 per cent are part-time,’ said Millie Kendall, head of the British Beauty Council.
Baroness Altmann, a pensions minister under David Cameron, said: ‘It’s women that will be disproportionately impacted by these changes. It’s really puzzling that this seems not to have been sufficiently considered.’
Sarah Willingham, boss of bar chain Nightcap and a former Dragon’s Den investor, said: ‘If you employ lots of people that work part-time hours, for instance mums, then these people are going to become a lot more expensive to hire.
‘This Budget disproportionately targets sectors that are recruiting these women.’
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