Johnson hints 2m workers could be lifted out of National Insurance

Boris Johnson has hinted more than 2 million low-paid workers could be lifted out of National Insurance under plans to be unveiled in the Tories' election manifesto.

The Prime Minister appeared to blurt out the scheme to raise the threshold at which workers start paying National Insurance contributions (NICs) from £8,628 a year to £12,000 during a campaign visit to Teesside.

The disclosure came as Tories came under fire for re-branding one of their official Twitter accounts as a fact-check service during Tuesday's TV debate between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

The Liberal Democrats meanwhile launched their election manifesto with a promise of a £50 billion "Remain bonus" for public services if they succeed in their aim of stopping Brexit.

Speaking during a question-and-answer session with workers at an engineering plant in Middlesbrough, Mr Johnson said the Conservatives were committed to a policy of "low tax for... the working people".

He went on: "If you look at what we're doing and what I've said in the last few days, we are going to be cutting National Insurance up to £12,000, we are going to be making sure that we cut business rates for small businesses.

"We are cutting tax for working people."

Mr Johnson originally proposed raising the NIC threshold during the Conservative leadership contest last summer – although at that stage he did not put a figure on it.

However the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated that a plan by his then leadership rival Dominic Raab to lift it to £12,500 would take 2.4 million workers out of NICs.

It put the cost to the Exchequer at between £11 billion and £17 billion depending on whether the threshold for employers was raised along with those for employees and the self-employed.