YP Comment: Chancellor puts economy first

IF BEING Chancellor of the Exchequer was like a reality TV popularity contest, there would not be the increase in National Insurance contributions that Philip Hammond is demanding of the self-employed.

Chancellors, however, are paid to take difficult decisions and it is Mr Hammond’s misfortune that he is having to reverse the Tory party’s pledges at the last election because the country is so mired in debt.

This isn’t a choice. It is borne out of economic necessity and a realisation that the ranks of the self-employed – a number that will only grow in time – don’t pay a fair share for the public services that they enjoy and take for granted. Yes, the country needs to be encouraging new business ventures, but there does also need to be a modest levelling of the playing field between the self-employed and employed.

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At least Mr Hammond did not shirk this challenge. What is a dereliction of duty, however, is the criticism from Mr Hammond’s critics, including Tory MPs, who say the policy should be reversed without explaining how they would fill the resulting £2bn black hole in the public finances that would exist by 2020 if the Chancellor did not act now.

Scrapping foreign aid or HS2, the default responses to such questions, will only go so far when the UK’s national debt stands at £1.7 trillion and where there’s little chance of A&E waiting time targets being met for another year because the welcome Budget cash injection simply can’t keep up with the health needs of an ageing society. If Mr Hammond backtracks on his Budget, not only will it be viewed as an act of political weakness, but it will be even harder to fund the NHS in the future.