Labour shouldn’t be afraid to be bolder to appeal to the politically-ostracised self-employed

By Joshua Toovey , Senior Research and Policy Officer, IPSE - the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed

Liverpool’s Albert Dock played host to a mutual charm offensive this week at the Labour Party Conference. With Labour almost 20 points ahead in opinion polls, businesses have been practically falling over one another to win favour with senior party figures. And with Labour keen to emphasise their desire for economic growth amidst a newfound fondness for the private sector, it’s safe to say that this has been reciprocated by Labour.

But after a notable shift in relations with some of the UK’s largest businesses, we at IPSE believe it’s time for a bolder strategy from Labour when it comes to appealing to some of the UK’s smallest businesses.

What happened at the Party Conference?

The Conference kicked into life with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves setting out Labour’s stall. And you could have been forgiven for thinking that it sounded like a traditionally Conservative election pitch as she vowed to fight next year’s election on the economy.

Labour’s growing appeal – according to the polls – even extended as far as former Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, who endorsed Reeves to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Tuesday then saw Keir Starmer outline his vision for the UK. His speech referenced the role and importance of ‘business’ nine times in a clear sign that Labour has moved their tanks firmly onto traditional Conservative territory.

And like his Shadow Chancellor, the speech again reinforced Labour’s plans to prioritise economic growth with major infrastructure projects and reduced barriers to work.

As was the case with Rishi Sunak’s speech last week, however, there was no mention of the self-employed. Instead, both leaders seemed intent on courting big business and potentially missing out on a vital electoral bloc going into an election year next year.

Finally, late on Tuesday, the party’s ‘A New Deal for Working People’ – their policy paper looking at worker’s rights and importantly for the self-employed, pledging to tackle late payments – was approved by delegates.

Labour’s view of self-employment and employment status

It’s been encouraging to see Labour engaging with issues affecting the self-employed in recent months. Angela Rayner’s office has been working closely with organisations such as IPSE to try and understand the sector and potential barriers to growth.

Indeed, the very fact that Labour hosted its first Small Business Sunday to coincide with policy announcements on late payment and access to public contracts can only be seen as a positive. But I’m sure I speak for many when I say that these issues are a mere drop in the ocean when working for yourself.

We’ve seen no commitments to row back on the devastating obstruction that is IR35 , nothing on pensions and encouraging saving for later life and nothing on training and skills investment.

The term ‘bogus self-employment’ is also one that we’ve heard a lot from Labour when it comes to their proposed policies for the sector. This is where they talk of a need to clampdown on employers that wrongly classify their workers to avoid employment requirements/contributions; a perfectly valid plan to combat very few instances of such rogue employer behaviour.

However, the continued focus on a part of the labour market that is so small in scale often appears to come at the expense of recognising the true contribution of those that work for themselves. In fact, their plan to introduce a new single ‘worker’ status seems chiefly concerned with tackling so-called bogus self-employment and has the potential to capture many of the genuinely self-employed.

We’ve previously written about the potential implications of their plan to introduce a new single ‘worker’ status.

Nonetheless, Labour is grasping some of the issues that the self-employed face, which should be celebrated. Taking this further and proposing radical change will, however, be required to win over this often-sidelined group.

The appetite for bold change amongst the self-employed

The Labour Party has not traditionally been seen as the natural choice for the self-employed at elections. They tend to favour pro-business, free-market policies which naturally lend themselves to the Conservatives.

But after 13 years of Conservative rule, during which some feel they’ve been targeted by changes in the tax system and ignored during the lockdowns, the self-employed have never been more politically-ostracised; an appropriate metaphor given that the Conservatives arguably had their head in the sand last week when Sunak referred to his party as “the party of enterprise, of small businesses”.

Indeed, this anger and feeling of being unsupported has now translated into a move away from the Conservatives.

Recent polling from the Centre for Economic Studies has revealed that just 19% of the self-employed intend to vote for the Conservatives at the next election. When the polling was carried out at the same time last year, this figure was 30%.

But interestingly, this has not automatically translated into a significant swing to Labour when it comes to the self-employed. The findings now indicate that 36% intend to vote for Labour, an increase on 34% from last year.

Ultimately, it’s evident that as a group, the self-employed feel politically without a natural home. Too many major speeches, budgets and conferences have overlooked the role of this dynamic sector, failing to even recognise its vital contribution.

With this in mind, Labour should be seeking to woo this 4.3 million-strong electoral bloc with a bold vision where self-employment is actively encouraged and cherished.

You can read more about our thoughts on why the events of the Conservative Party Conference will have done nothing to endear the self-employed and why the self-employed are seemingly deserting the Conservatives here.