The Government should not be raising national insurance during the cost of living crisis, economists have told MPs. Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Tom Clougherty, from the Centre for Policy Studies, said it was “extremely perverse” to raise the tax currently and it should be delayed. Torsten Bell, from the Resolution Foundation, said the Government should raise income tax instead of national insurance – and warned lower-income households are going to feel the squeeze harder than others. Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation (Parliament TV) Clougherty said it was “extremely perverse to raise taxes on ordinary earners in the middle of a cost of living crisis”. Bell said that “all sensible people” think income tax rates should have been increased by the Government, instead of the controversial national insurance rise. He added: “More than 50 percent of the savings from the National Insurance delay would go to …