Terrible way to Phil the coffers with White Van Man tax mistake

Phil the coffers

PHILIP Hammond’s raid on the wages of self-employed White Van Men is a mistake.

We like this Chancellor — and his otherwise super-cautious Budget yesterday was right for the uncertainty of the times.

But increasing the National Insurance contributions of Britain’s army of strivers is a misguided idea The Sun could never support. The Government has seriously underestimated the anger over it.

Aside from anything it is a blatant breach of a 2015 manifesto pledge not to raise NI.

More than a third of the jobs created since 2010 are self-employed.

Almost three million affected by the rise will pay an extra £240 a year on average. How does that square with Theresa May’s focus on exactly these “just about managings”?

It may seem unfair to the Treasury that the self-employed pay less NI than employees. But their jobs are riskier, their income more precarious. They do not get sick pay, holiday pay or staff pensions.

We share Mr Hammond’s worry that the surge in such jobs is eroding the nation’s tax take. That too many firms save money rehiring staff as self-employed contractors.

The Government should focus on those companies. Not on hammering all self-employed workers.

Post-Brexit, we will need all the start-ups and entrepreneurs we can get.

Good gags at Labour’s expense

The Tories presumably think workers will suck it up because no other party is worth a vote. They may even have a point.

Labour’s useless leader Jeremy Corbyn barely even mentioned the NI raid in his dismal Budget response — and his shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry was once fired for sneering at a White Van Man.

The shifty Lib Dems, meanwhile, now have only one policy: reversing Brexit.

The NI blow stuck out like a sore thumb in a mainly commendable Budget.

After all the Brexit scaremongering it was great to see this year’s growth ­forecast sharply upgraded, though Mr Hammond is wise to bank any proceeds.

The £2billion social care boost to help the NHS was hugely welcome, along with £100million to put GPs in A&E.

We are delighted to see action to prevent firms fleecing consumers, especially the Big Six energy giants. The Sun has campaigned for just that . . . we trust it’s merely the start of their reckoning.

The relief from the business rates rise was good, too, as far as it went. But the NHS compensation bill, hugely increased under a formula approved by Justice Secretary Liz Truss, was shocking at £6billion. The Government must think again.

Mr Hammond made some good gags at Labour’s expense. Their sullen front bench didn’t have the grace to play along.

We doubt White Van Man was laughing much either.