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Sole traders. Micro businesses with one or two employees. Freelancers. Plumbers. Electricians. Hairdressers. Mechanics. Accountants. Gardeners. Whatever it is, whoever they are. These are the workers that keep the economy going. Not the big global corporates. Politicians, and those devising the rules, simply do not understand how these people live. Nobody ever even talks about the one or two people operations in Westminster. Saturday morning in the bureaucrat’s world? Friday working from home, so nice easy day to finish off the week. Laptop closed by 15.00. Phone off for the weekend, not a care in the world. Life is sweet. Holiday coming up, mortgage comfortable, pension growing nicely. The sole trader? Getting invoices and paperwork sorted at 6am before the children wake up. Chasing up late payments. Weighing up whether to do that last minute emergency call out, or spend time with the kids on a Saturday. Getting the diary sorted for next week. Phone goes and goes all weekend. It is never-ending. It does not stop. It’s two different worlds honestly. The issue is that the latter entirely funds the former, and the former is hellbent on making life as difficult as possible for productive Britain. I want to be really clear about what Restore Britain would do. Two things. Crush parasitic Britain. Unleash productive Britain. First. Scrap IR35. It has created years of confusion, fear and chaos for contractors and small operators. It has pushed countless self-employed people into pointless paperwork and rigid inflexibility. Doesn’t work. It’s a right pain in the arse for millions. Scrap it. Second, we will double the VAT threshold. The current threshold traps thousands of small businesses just as they begin to grow. Many deliberately stop expanding to avoid the enormous administrative burden of VAT and the brutal cost hikes which drive demand away. The evidence of is obvious. Thousands hover just below the threshold, refusing to grow, hire or pay more tax. It is ABSURD. Restore Britain would double the VAT threshold so small businesses can grow without being punished for success. This is absolutely necessary. An important one - we would dramatically simplify the tax system for sole traders and micro-businesses (and everyone else, but that's separate). Instead of forcing small operators through pages of complicated accounting rules designed for large corporations, we will introduce a far simplified tax regime for businesses below a certain size. Less paperwork, fewer forms, clearer rules. More money for them, less for the accountants and parasitic professional class. Sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it? Next. We will end the endless culture of inspections and bureaucratic interference from the bureaucrats. Too many small businesses now live in fear of accidental breaches - whether it’s health and safety nonsense, employment law complexity, ridiculous data laws or constantly changing compliance requirements. The stress is immense. If you are a sole trader or micro-business acting in good faith, the system should support you, not threaten you. Restore Britain will free them from endless regulatory suffocation. The mental health release on that is worth it alone. Means a lot to me, this one. Restore Britain will make it easier for tradespeople to hire apprentices. This is important. One of the biggest problems small businesses face is bringing in the next generation. The current system is too complicated, too expensive and too rigid for small firms. Restore Britain will introduce simple, flexible apprenticeship schemes designed specifically for small businesses and trades. Up next, we will simplify planning and licensing rules. For small builders, tradespeople and contractors - planning restrictions and local bureaucracy can delay work for months and add unnecessary costs. I detest planning departments more than I can describe in language appropriate for a Saturday morning. These jumped-up empire-building little runts running councils across Britain will have their power stripped away from them. We will let people do business, we will let business owners run their businesses without the sneering council worker’s constant box ticking. Not complicated. We will restore respect for the self-employed. Look at how they were treated during lockdown. Like dirt. Entirely abandoned whilst others were paid to do nothing. That must be addressed, and they must be compensated. The excluded must finally be recognised. That wrong must be rectified. Under a Restore Britain Government, their efforts will be appreciated, celebrated and most importantly? Rewarded. This is the key point. Let’s not pretend otherwise. The five golden rules of business. What’s in it for me? We will radically slash tax and raise thresholds. Tax on dividends would be hacked down so that success pays. More work, pays. Effort, pays. If the electrician does that last minute job on a Saturday, it will be worth their time. They will be rewarded, not HMRC. Restore Britain will slash the bureaucracy, simplify the rules, cut the taxes. We will give small businesses the freedom they need to thrive, to support their families and to succeed. Parasitic Britain will end. Sole traders and micro businesses finally have a political party that will fight for them. Restore Britain.

The biggest part of the hole will reflect the productivity downgrade. There are many other moving parts, but here's just one possible combination that results in a gap of £34bn. Most heroically, I'm guessing the OBR will assume that the Budget will lower the cost of borrowing...

I don’t believe for a second the Budget will actually put up employer national insurance. It’s one of the worst taxes the Government could raise, and it probably breaks a manifesto promise.