Bill Esterson, Labour’s shadow minister for small business said on the 25/11/19 that his party would put a stop to the introduction of the IR35 changes to the private sector in April 2020.
At The Association of Independent Professional and the Self-Employed (IPSEs) joint organised small business debate, Mr Esterson said:
We absolutely can’t see it rolled out into the private sector the way things are at the moment.
We need to support the self-employed in this country. We need to make sure that our tax system is diverse so that it matches the needs of being self-employed and is also consistent with the risk that is taken.
Later on, Mr Esterson when asked if the Labour Party would review and not roll out IR35 changes to the private sector in 2020, his response via Twitter was “absolutely”.
Simon McVicker, director of policy at IPSE, said:
We are absolutely delighted that Labour has heeded our calls to halt the roll-out of the disastrous changes to IR35 next April. As Bill Esterson pointed out at our debate, when the changes were introduced in the public sector, they caused serious skills shortages in the health service and beyond.<
The pledge to halt and review the changes will be very welcome to freelancers across the UK. The review would give IPSE the chance to clearly show the damage these changes would do and stop them once and for all.
Labour’s manifesto commitment to raise corporation and dividend tax caused concern among freelancers and is still a worry. However, pledging to halt and review the changes to IR35 shows the party is serious about the self-employed.
Now both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have heeded IPSE and the freelance community on IR35, it’s time for the Conservatives to take note too. The 5 million-strong self-employed sector is vital to the economy and the country and its voice must be heard this election.
On the 20/11/19 the Liberal Democrats in their manifesto promised to review the changes to IR35.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.