Conservative leadership elections and IPSE campaigning

Andy Chamberlain, IPSE Director of Policy and Member Engagement

The resignation of Boris Johnson last week has fired the starting gun on the race to replace him as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. Over the past few days, the candidates have been whittled down to six MPs with Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss garnering the most support. By next week just two will remain, with the deciding vote on which one will be in No.10 scheduled for 5th September.

For self-employed workers, there has been little to get excited about. Debates have focused mainly on tax cuts and government spending, but there’s been no mention of the specific issues affecting thousands of freelancers such as IR35, MSC legislation and the cost-of-living crisis. While freelancers will undoubtedly welcome promises to scrap the planned increase in corporation tax, I hope that in the coming days, leading candidates like Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss build upon their rhetoric around economic competence and show that they are serious about the other threats facing freelancers.

If they don’t, then I fear that they will find it hard to get the support of one of the most entrepreneurial and innovative parts of the UK economy. Moreover, regardless of what they say during the campaign, every candidate will need a plan for the self-employed, when one of them becomes Prime Minister. The sector has fallen dramatically during the pandemic, and it needs help to recover its position and help boost the country’s GDP.

While it is currently unclear who will eventually become Prime Minister, we’re monitoring the election and working on ensuring that every candidate has a clear plan for the self-employed. In particular, we plan to be involved in discussions with candidates engaged in leadership campaigns and to tell them our solutions to the problems affecting our members and the wider self-employed community.

Continuing to campaign for change

Outside of the Tory leadership election, it is clear that there are pressing issues that Boris Johnson and his new temporary cabinet need to deal with now. Issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and the never-ending threat of retrospective HMRC investigations and government tax policy are hurting self-employed workers - who can’t wait for the election of a new party leader in two months' time.

We’re fighting hard to ensure that the government doesn’t get distracted by the Tory leadership election and that it works in delivering for thousands of freelancers across the country. For instance, last week I wrote to the newly appointed Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, raising the pressing issues facing those that work for themselves and calling for an immediate increase in mileage allowance. You can read my letter here.

We are also continuing to work closely with the Future of Work review, highlighting the case for clarification over employment status and raising the issue of late payment and a lack of training and skills investment that continues to challenge the sector. We have submitted similar evidence to a BEIS Committee inquiry on UK labour markets.

IPSE’s campaigning post leadership election

Whoever the next Prime Minister is, once they’ve been elected and have appointed a new cabinet, we will begin the process of writing to them and other relevant Ministers.

We will also work to ensure that the achievements that we have secured (such as the creation of the establishment of a Small Business Commissioner) are built upon in the next government.

If you are interested in finding out more about IPSE’s campaigning, then you can read about our work here.?

-- Andy Chamberlain, IPSE Director of Policy