TWO North-East business representatives have led a national call for proposed tax increases to be axed, saying it could cripple small businesses.

Chris Williamson, secretary of the Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) Darlington branch, called on Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to scrap proposed increases in National Insurance contributions.

Peter Troy, chairman of the Darlington FSB, backed a motion by Ms Williamson at the organisation's national conference in Brighton on Friday, that the Government rethink the move.

The proposal gained unanimous support from the 222 representatives at the conference, representing 108,000 block votes.

Peter Troy said the FSB had been founded on opposition to the introduction of Class 4 National Insurance contributions in 1974 and the latest increases took contributions to their highest level since then.

He said: "Here in Brighton, two representatives of the small business community in the North-East asked their colleagues nationally to send a clear message to the Government that the rise to the highest levels ever of national insurance contributions are unacceptable.

"The increases are from seven per cent to eight per cent, which for self-employed people means effectively a 14 per cent increase in hard cash."