Officials of the Bank of England today met with representatives of the British Retail Consortium to discuss the recent rises in national insurance contributions.

The BRC told the Bank that the increases would lead to an estimated 10,000 jobs being lost due to reduced investment.

Forum Response; British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, told ePolitix.com: "We said at the time that the increase in National Insurance was a tax on jobs. The Bank of England got hard evidence of that today.

"We will continue to press the government to rethink this burden on business. We recognise the need to improve the funding of the NHS - but not at the expense of jobs and investment in the UK's most successful industry."