U-turn Articles

Self-employed welcome Chancellor’s ‘screeching’ U-turn

Chancellor Philip Hammond has been forced to make a ‘screeching’ U-turn on National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed.

In his budget statement last week, the Chancellor said that he wanted to increase Class 4 NICs, which are only paid by self-employed workers, by two pence in the pound in 2019. 

Following heavy criticism from Tory backbenchers, the media and the self-employed community, the Chancellor has dropped this policy.

The SNP leader in Westminster Angus Robertson called it a “screeching” U-turn while Labour said the move was “humiliating”.