THERESA MAY’S Government has been accused of attacking aspiration and breaking an election manifesto pledge by raiding the National Insurance (NI) contributions of self-employed people in the Budget.

Conservative MPs expressed their concerns at the Chancellor’s announcement he would be raising the NI payments of about 2.5 million workers by £240 a year on average.

Critics also questioned whether voters could believe any future Tory pledges after the party appeared to rely on small print to justify the U-turn. 

READ MORE: Sturgeon: Late 2018 would be 'common sense' time for referendum

At the 2015 General Election, David Cameron’s Conservatives stated they would “not raise VAT, National Insurance contributions or income tax”.

But the Chancellor yesterday announced the rate for Class 4 NI contributions, paid on profits of £8,060 or more a year, would rise from nine per cent to 10 per cent next April and to 11 per cent from 2019.

Mr Hammond defended the change, saying reforms to the state pension meant the self-employed were now receiving higher benefits while still putting in the same amount. 

The SNP’s economy spokesman Stewart Hosie hit out at what he said was a “scandalous attack on aspiration”. 

He said the measures provided “real hard disincentives to starting business and employing people.” 

Mr Hosie predicted the change was a “decision that will come back to haunt this Chancellor”. 

Orkney and Shetland Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said the move sent the wrong message “while many of these self-employed people are facing huge uncertainty about their future”. 

Labour’s former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie accused Mr Hammond of breaking the election pledge.

He told MPs the “Chancellor needs to explain why he’s breaking a manifesto promise made in the 2015 General Election manifesto”. 
Treasury aides insisted that was not the case.

They pointed to the legislation, passed by MPs months after the 2015 election, which made mention of a number of classes of NI contribution but significantly not class four. 

Conservative MPs voiced concerns about the reforms and pressed ministers to show that they were on the side of “white van man”.

READ MORE: Sturgeon: Late 2018 would be 'common sense' time for referendum

Former Tory minister Andrew Murrison called for reassurances that electricians, plumbers and plasterers would not be hard hit by the changes. 

Backbench party colleague Nigel Mills added it would be unwelcome news among workers “who are probably struggling and not getting all the rights they ought to”.

But fellow Tory MP Charlie Elphicke defended the reforms.

He said: “I heard the remarks from the Leader of the Opposition and the SNP saying isn’t it appalling, but actually there should be a level playing field, surely, for the self-employed and for the employed.

“That’s something about which I feel quite strongly and I think the Chancellor was right to bring in measures.”

Mr Hosie also criticised the Chancellor for what he said was a failure to create an economic buffer for the UK’s exit from the European Union. 

Mr Hosie said the UK was “completely unprepared” for the “economic tsunami” set to be unleashed by Brexit.

He called the predicted Budget surplus “tiny” and predicted any external shock or capital flight could see “these figures fall apart”. 

He also hit out at Mr Hammond’s confirmation of an extra £350 million for the Scottish Government as “smoke and mirrors”, saying overall spending would still be down by £1 billion by the end of the Parliament. 

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Mr Hammond of “utter complacency” over the state of the economy and what he said was a “crisis” facing public services.

“This is a Chancellor and a Government not on the side of the workers, not on the side of the taxpayers, who pick up the bill for low pay and insecure work,” he said. 

Glasgow Central SNP MP Alison Thewliss said the Budget was a “missed opportunity” to scrap the “rape clause” where a woman who had a third child as a result of a serious sexual assault would be forced to prove she had been raped or lose child benefit.

There were also no plans to change a policy of restricting tax credit payments to two children per family from next month. 

As part of the reforms women will have to provide evidence of exceptional circumstances, such as rape, to claim for a third child. 
Ms Thewliss said: “I still cannot believe any government would think it’s acceptable to put women and their families through such incredible pain and misery.”
There was also disquiet on the Tory benches about Mrs May’s plans for a new generation of grammar schools. 

Grammar schools opponent Mr Murrison warned the policy could disadvantage other schools.

He told: “I fear it as a development because of course the flip side of that would be an increase in the number of secondary modern schools, which I don’t think has been positive in the past and I would not like to see visited on areas like mine in the future.

READ MORE: Sturgeon: Late 2018 would be 'common sense' time for referendum

“And I would be concerned if the measures announced today, which do appear to advantage, disproportionately, free schools seeking to select their intake, were grammar schools by the back door.”

But other Tory MPs welcomed the Chancellor’s announcements.

Hampshire Tory MP Kit Malthouse said he felt the Chancellor had “dusted off that black polo neck which apparently he used to wear as a young man and delivered to us a box of Milk Tray, such is the delights that we heard about”.