A senior Tory has accepted the rise in National Insurance will be unpopular with voters as Boris Johnson doubled down on the planned hike.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss admitted "taxes are never popular" as she defended the Government's plan for a manifesto-busting tax rise in April.
The Prime Minister has been under pressure from his own backbenchers to ditch plans to for workers, employers and the self-employed to pay 1.25p more in the pound for National Insurance from April 2022 for a year.