Politics

This afternoon Philip Hammond has found himself the subject of much bad press over his decision to break a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise national insurance for the self-employed. But is Hammond the person to blame? Mr S only asks as it turns out that those involved with the 2015 Conservative manifesto might not have put that much thought into the original pledge. Speaking to the Sun‘s Tom Newton Dunn last year, Ameet Gill — David Cameron’s former Head of Strategy — revealed that the promise to not raise National Insurance for five years was only implemented because they had a ‘hole in the grid’: ‘Towards the end of the

Oh dear. Although today’s Budget was expected to be rather boring, it’s shaping up to be a lot more interesting than Philip Hammond had intended. The Chancellor’s decision to break a 2015 Tory manifesto pledge and raise National Insurance Contributions (Class 4) by two per cent for self-employed workers has left many in uproar. But surely Hammond can rely on former Treasury staff to have his back at this testing time? Perhaps not. Rupert Harrison, George Osborne’s former chief of staff in the Treasury, has offered his snap verdict: While Harrison — who now works alongside Osborne at BlackRock — says the dividend changes are likely to encounter opposition in Tory heartlands. What’s more,

The government is in trouble over the National Insurance increase for the self-employed. Journalists are busy pointing out that the Tory manifesto explicitly said that there would be no increases in National Insurance. But Philip Hammond’s allies are—rather absurdly—claiming that the Budget keeps this manifesto promise as the post-election tax lock law only refers to Class One National Insurance contributions, and what is being raised is Class 4 ones. This is the wrong ground for the government to fight on; and they’ll end up losing if they remain camped out here. It is rather ironic that a Budget which promises to clamp down on misleading special offers that take advantage