Most Scots want National Insurance devolved to Scotland, a new poll has suggested.

The survey carried out for Angus Robertson’s Progress Scotland found that 51% of voters believed ministers in Edinburgh rather than Whitehall should have responsibility for setting rates and thresholds.

Around 33% said it should still be the Chancellor rather than the Finance Secretary, while another 16% told the pollster they did not know.

The survey of 3,016 people was carried out by Survation between November 1 and 15, immediately after Rachel Reeves announced a hike in the budget.

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The Chancellor hiked the rate of employer NICs from 13.8% to 15% from 6 April 2025 and dropped the threshold at which employers become liable to pay NICs on employees’ earnings from £9,100 a year to £5,000.

The switch — due to come in from April 2025 — will raise £25.7 billion.

However, there have been warnings of significant job losses.

In their Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published alongside the Chancellor’s tax and spending plans in October, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the increase would see the equivalent of 50,000 jobs lost.

A report by Deutsche Bank, published earlier this week, suggested it could be as many as 100,000.

The SNP’s Michelle Thomson told The Herald: “People in Scotland are justifiably unhappy with Labour’s National Insurance hikes and the damage it will inflict on charities, hospices, universities and other organisations across Scotland.

“Since this Westminster tax hike was announced there have been stark warnings from charities and organisations about the devastating impact this will have on them, their employees and the people they serve.

“Labour’s refusal to address the issue is cruel and is forcing so many vital organisations and institutions to take devastating decisions because of the uncertainty.

“This is set to be a huge blow for over 7,000 charities in Scotland - it could cost the Scottish Government £500 million and Scotland's voluntary sector £75 million."

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 79 businesses including Amazon, Aldi, Boots, B&Q, Currys, Greggs, JD Sports, Marks & Spencer, Next and Primark, urged the Chancellor to rethink the tax change.

They said the hike, coming on top of an increase to the national living wage, would hurt consumers and lead to redundancies. 

In a letter arranged by the British Retail Consortium, the firms said they appreciated the UK Government’s “focus on improving the fiscal situation and investing in public services” but that the “sheer scale of new costs and the speed with which they occur create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty.”

Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts said, earlier this month, that the tax hikes would mean higher inflation for shoppers, while Asda warned that it would face an extra £100m in costs thanks to the Budget.

Earlier this week, Edinburgh University warned staff it expects to make job cuts, in part because of the NIC rise.

Asked if job losses were a price that had to be paid to restore stability to the public finances, a No 10 spokeswoman said: “We’ve certainly had to take difficult decisions and been very upfront about the decisions that we’ve had to take to restore the public finances.

“But we’re also clear that without doing so, you don’t have the basis for stable economic growth, and that is the condition that we know businesses need to thrive in the long term.”

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Last night Health Secretary Neil Gray urged Scottish Labour MSPs to back his calls for the UK Government to fully cover the cost of the increase on Scotland's public sector.

“Our public services should not pay the price for Labour’s UK Budget – and I am asking MSPs across parties to unite and make that clear today,” he said.

“Scotland’s funding should be used for the benefit of the people of Scotland and the crucial public services we all rely on – it should not under any circumstances pay for the UK Government’s National Insurance increase.”

Responding, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The single biggest threat to Scotland’s NHS is the SNP’s dangerous incompetence, and no amount of deflection and scaremongering can hide that.

“While the SNP carps from the sidelines, Labour is delivering record levels of funding for Scotland, supporting the NHS and cleaning up the mess the Tories left behind.”

A Labour amendment to the motion is understood to say the changes in the Budget were “necessary” to fix the public finances.