Plans to increase National Insurance levels for self-employed people - announced in the Budget last week - have been dropped. Chancellor Philip Hammond has said the government will not proceed with the increases which were criticised for breaking a 2015 manifesto pledge. In a letter to Tory MPs, he said: "There will be no increases in... rates in this Parliament." Mr Hammond will explain the U-turn in a Commons statement later.
Speaking as a self-employed person, hooray! Speaking as a resident of This Green and Sceptered Isle, I'm now concerned about from whence Our Glorious Leaders are planning to claw back the money they thought they were going to get from the NI increase...
That is an easy question to answer the poor, the sick and the disabled and those in society that do not have a voice no matter how many politicians tell us different.
Speaking as a cynic, I wonder what little gem of a policy they pushed through, barely noticed, in the shadow of this sham.
Seems like a weird decision to me. Shows no pre-thought or strength of conviction. In raw numbers it made sense as they were still under PAYE levels of NI but would have been paying a fairer share. Purely on the numbers, obviously employing people and fuelling the economy should be rewarded. I bet they'll close loop holes for the self-employed instead and get the money back that way. So it'll end up being the same.
Easy: "In light of the reduced budget available, we will be slashing the budget for (insert public service here)". Bonus points if they declare that said public service will save that money through 'efficiency', achieved by privatising some/all of said service.
Aren't the new Personal Independence Payment rules kicking in today? But you know, keep taking back that control, guys!
Oh, how about David Davis admitting to the Brexit Committee this morning that his department hasn't actually economically assessed the impact of a "no deal" scenario that would see the UK crashing out of the EU into WTO rules?
I suspect the u-turn is a consequence of opposition from Tory party donors. This always brings out their spinelessness to best effect.
Are we supposed to believe that they've only just realised that the budget plans contavened their manifesto pledge?
