Ukraine crisis puts Sunak under new pressure to axe national insurance rise

Tory MPs and business groups urge chancellor to scrap increase intended to fund NHS and social care amid fears of stagflation

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under renewed pressure from MPs and business groups to rethink plans to increase national insurance next month, as fears grow that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will dramatically worsen the cost of living crisis and plunge the economy into stagflation".

Both Tory and Labour MPs believe Sunak can still be persuaded to ditch the 1.25 percentage point rise - announced last September to fund the NHS and social care - and want him to use the potentially devastating effects of events in Ukraine on prices as justification for what they say is an urgently needed U-turn.