• SADLY, self-employed people in Islington aren’t off the hook just yet, despite the government reversing its controversial hike in National Insurance contributions (NICs).

While the u-turn is welcome – after all the government did pledge there would be no change to NICs during this Parliament – it won’t help many low-earning, self-employed people.

Indeed, the government is pressing ahead with plans to force some self-employed workers earning below £5,965 a year to choose between a 400 per cent increase in their NICs or losing out on their state pension.

The changes, which will come into force in April 2018, speak volumes about their attitude towards London’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.

On the one hand the government insists it wants Britain to be the place for start-ups, but at the same time it is financially penalising many of the creative people needed to achieve that ambition.

The hike in business rates, and the refusal to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who already live and work in the capital, has left London businessmen and women with enough to worry about. They could do without the government adding to their troubles through ill-thought-out, punitive policies.

Sadiq Khan has pledged to be the most business-friendly mayor London has ever had; it’s about time the government started following his lead.

JENNETTE ARNOLD
London Assembly Labour member for Hackney, Waltham Forest and Islington