This week in Parliament, the unglamorously named National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill came back to the House of Commons.

The Bill is the vehicle through which the Government is making changes to employer National Insurance contributions, which independent analysis says will mean businesses forking out an extra £900 for each employee on median average earnings.

The Government is doing everything it can to rush the Bill through Parliament in time for the new financial year in April.

The idea is to provide certainty, which Labour says will contribute to its economic growth agenda.

However, that ship has already sailed, with the most recent figures revealing that the economy is already shrinking.

The Bill was appearing for the second time in the House of Commons because the Lords had rightly decided that the punitive increases in contributions and changes to thresholds would burden many of the most important services in our communities with unassailable costs.

The Lords passed amendments to exempt hospices and care homes, GPs, early years providers, and other services that rely on public funding from these tax rises.

I spoke out in support of these amendments, which Labour MPs voted down.

I sat through the whole debate and was dismayed that out of the entire current crop of 404 Labour MPs, just five of them showed up to listen to their minister defending the tax rises from the Government benches before voting them through.

I have been contacted by many businesses and services in my Gosport constituency who are worried about their future viability and the impact on those who rely on them.

Many of them, like our charities, provide services that support the most vulnerable in our communities.

A few weeks ago, I spoke to the owner of a nursing home with 35 years of service in the heart of Gosport.

He told me that the tax rises in the Budget will drive around a £90,000 annual increase in costs.

That’s a 12 per cent increase in the year ahead, driven mostly by changes to minimum wages and employer National Insurance contributions for his 75 employees – but with only a 4 per cent uplift to cover it.

Care homes operate on very low profit margins, and they already struggle to recruit and retain the right staff.

It will be elderly and disabled people and their families who ultimately pay the price of this jobs tax, and I’ve already been contacted by constituents who are seeing care home fees for their loved ones rising exponentially.

I know from speaking to businesses and services across my constituency how difficult many of the most labour-intensive sectors have been finding things since the Labour Budget.

Early years providers are facing such pressure that one local company told me with distress that they simply can’t absorb the impact and will have to pass on a 10 per cent increase to parents’ fees.

This will inevitably cause some to decide that rising childcare costs no longer make it economically worthwhile to stay in the workforce – and it will inevitably be mothers who are most likely to drop out.

Some of the beauty salons and hairdressers around the Gosport peninsula are even considering ending their apprenticeship offering.

In fact, national figures show that by 2027, at the current rate, there may be no apprenticeships left in this sector.

I will shortly be hosting a roundtable with this sector to hear more about the most pressing issues they face.

The fact is that many of the businesses and services my constituents most depend on are going to struggle as a result of Labour’s economic mismanagement.