IR35 Off Payroll Changes
Liz Truss has been an unmitigated disaster. She would be in contention for the worst Prime Minister ever.
She and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng were extremely arrogant thinking they could ride rough shed over the markets, Parliament and anyone who disagreed with them.
They have got their deserved comeuppance.
Chancellor Kwarteng has gone and Prime Minister Liz Truss is hanging on by her fingertips.
Why Do Contractors Need Liz Truss to Stay?
Now that this has been said you might be surprised that now I say that it is crucial for contractors and freelancers that Liz Truss stays as Prime Minister.
This is solely looking through a contractor’s eye.
Since IR35 was introduced in 2000 there hasn’t been a singe Prime Minister or Chancellor, Conservative or Labour who has backed contractors views that IR35 and the Off Payroll rules should be abolished.
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have been the only ones.
Now that Kwarteng has gone that just leaves Liz Truss.
What Did Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss Do About Off Payroll Rules?
It came as a pleasant surprise, even shock, that the Chancellor in his mini budget said that he would abolish the Off Payroll IR35 rules brought in for the public sector in 2017 and in the private sector in 2021.
It came out of the blue from far left field.
We published the words of one of Jeremy Hunt’s contractor constituents who asked him about IR35 only to be told by Hunt that the self employees should pay the same tax as employees.
So, it was no surprise that Chancellor Hunt arrested the proposed abolition of he Off Payroll rules which have hit contractors so heard.
Who is the only one who can save Contractors over Off Payroll?
So, with Kwareng gone, Liz Truss is the only one who can get the off payroll changes rescinded.
OK at the moment, she is in the hands of Jeremy Hunt and has to do what he says on financial matters anyway.
But if she can survive, power may gradually shift to her from her Chancellor bit by bit.
She obviously agrees that the off payroll IR35 changes should be rescinded.
So, once she regains more power, she may decided that it is best for the country and for both big businesses and small businesses that the off payroll IR35 rules are rescinded.
Next year’s budget will come to soon.
When Could the IR35 Off Payroll Rules be Rescinded?
Enough power may have come back for her to put it in the manifesto for the election in two years time – but she must survive until then.
Will she survive until then?
Most people, including MPs of her own party, are saying that her survival can be measured in weeks or even days and she’ll be gone before Christmas.
Letter are going in to the Conservative 1922 Committee of back bench Conservative MPs asking for her to be deposed.
Graham Brady, the head of that Committee told both Boris and Theresa May that they had to go as he had received letters from more than 15% of Tory MPs saying they should quit – and quit they did.
Supposedly letters are being handed in to Graham Brady now.
Will 1922 Committee Get Rid of Another Prime Minister?
However, it hasn’t been commented on much but it seems that Brady has been saying that to get rid of another leader so quickly the threshold for getting rid of this Prime Minister should be higher.
Indeed, it is being said that he believes the threshold this time should be 50% of Tory MPs.
Now that would be very, very hard to get.
Indeed the odds would be against it.
Can Liz Truss Survive?
If that is the threshold now needed then Liz Truss stands a very good chance of surviving.
That means that there will be someone in the highest position in the land who believes that the off payroll IR35 rules should be rescinded.
She cannot do it at the moment. However, Harold Wilson once said that “a week is a long time in politics”.
So, two years is a very, very long time in politics. Things may look very different then.
So, come on contractors.
Let’s hear it for Liz Truss. 🙂
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