Hammonds Budget U-turn

Less than a week after his Spring Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond was forced into a screeching U-turn on a proposed rise in National Insurance contributions for the self employed. Apparently, he was told to abandon the increase by Theresa May after a savaging in the media and a surge of complaints by back-bench Tory MPs. There is now likely to be a £2 billion black hole in the public finances that the Chancellor will have to fill this Autumn, but the reduction in the dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000, which will raise tax bills for business owners, will go ahead in 2018.