Philip Hammond DROPS hated National Insurance hike on self-employed in victory for The Sun campaign as Chancellor makes stunning U-turn on white van man tax raid
A letter to MPs said the Government will not proceed with the increase in contributions for the self-employed set out in last week’s Budget
PHILIP Hammond today grovels to Sun readers after scrapping his hated tax grab — to the delight of our army of White Van drivers.
In a personal missive, the humiliated Chancellor admits that he broke voters’ trust.
He stresses: “Trust matters in politics.”
Yesterday in a spectacular Sun campaign victory, Mr Hammond did a U-turn and binned a £240 rise in National Insurance contributions for two million self-employed workers.
The plan — revealed just seven days earlier in the Budget — sparked nationwide uproar and led to an unprecedented climbdown.
While clearly breaching a 2015 election promise not to raise income tax, VAT or NICs, Mr Hammond said the aborted tax raid did meet the Tories’ new tax lock law.
Yet he concedes today: “But for the Prime Minister and me, it’s not enough simply to stay within the letter of our tax lock law. It’s important that we meet the spirit of our commitment as well.”
Pledging never to make the same mistake again, the Chancellor adds: “I can say clearly to Sun readers that there will be no increases in National Insurance rates in this Parliament”.
Self-employed builder Terry Christie spoke for all strivers when he said it felt like a “big shadow” had been lifted off him.
Terry, 47, who has run his own block-paving business in North Tyneside for 20 years, said the past week had been filled with stress and worry.
He had been facing the possibility of redundancies over the NI hike.
Terry said: “It feels like there has been constant bad news with the recession and Brexit.