Simon Mcvicker

The Conservatives used to be known as the party of business. Theresa May still seems to be trying to keep up the pretence, saying in her conference speech that the Conservatives are 'a party that believes in business'. But the proof is in the pudding, and this pudding is turning sour. Fast. The Budget rumour mill is in overdrive that Chancellor Philip Hammond will use the Budget to extend the government’s disastrous changes to self-employed IR35 tax law from the public sector to the private sector. However Theresa May’s speechwriters may spin this, it would be the final nail in the coffin of the Conservatives’ small business credentials. Let me explain. IR35 is essentially a tax law introduced to stamp out ‘disguised employment’.

In a raging and rousing speech to the TUC in Brighton this week, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn took aim at the UK’s 'unscrupulous' bosses. He reserved particular scorn for the so-called 'gig economy', which he presented as little more than a front for 'bogus self-employment'. Now, it’s certainly true that there are problems in the gig economy. There are indeed a small number of unscrupulous companies who use the confusion in the gig economy to exploit vulnerable workers, denying their rights and forcing them into self-employment. But it would be a serious mistake to tar the whole sector with the same brush. There is much more going on in the gig economy than this myopic picture suggests. Not to be confused with the prolific, 4.