Boris called in to save May’s bacon

THE Treasury and Number 10 are at war over controversial changes to selfemployed workers’ national insurance contributions in last week’s Budget.

As a poll revealed just one in four voters now thinks of the Conservatives as the party of low taxes, Downing Street was trying to repair the damage to Prime Minister Theresa May’s reputation.

And it emerged last night that the Chancellor has “parachuted in” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to defend the changes as he is seen as a good communicator.

Philip Hammond has asked him to speak in the Commons tomorrow, despite Mr Johnson having little to do with tax and spending policies. More than half of those in the ComRes poll said they trusted the Government less as a result of the Budget, while 55 per cent said Theresa May should have honoured the party’s 2015 general election pledge not to raise taxes.

Some 46 per cent said they were now “less likely” to vote Tory.

A source said it was worrying that when Mr Hammond outlined his Budget to the Cabinet beforehand, no one questioned the two per cent NIC rise, or its potential unpopularity with “white van men and mumpreneurs”. The source added: “There’s a sense that Philip thought too much with his head and not at all with his heart on this one.

“The money saved by these measures is £145million, which while not an insignificant amount of money is piffling in the scheme of things. Was it really worth it to spark this much outrage?”

As many as 100 Tory MPs are said to be unhappy with the proposals, with at least 20 prepared to vote against next week’s Finance Bill, which enacts the Budget.

Mrs May, last week put the NIC plan on ice when the scale of the Tory revolt became apparent, promising to “listen to the concerns raised” before they were brought in.

Potential rebel Tory MPs include Welsh Minister Gutto Bebb, former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Tory grandee John Redwood.

Stephen McPartland, MP for Stevenage, is among dozens of Conservative backbenchers calling for a U-turn. He said: “I believe that these NIC changes are an attack on those ordinary working class families who set up their own businesses and are the backbone of our economy.

“Although I welcome the Prime Minister announcing a review on this issue, it doesn’t deal with the wider issue of breaking a key manifesto promise. The Chancellor should...do a U-turn quickly.”

Party insiders are worried about another backlash over the deeply unpopular business rates revaluation.

Treasury minister David Gauke, who helped oversee the controversial plan, is being blamed by many in the party.

One source said: “The feeling is that Gauke has been in the Treasury so long he has practically become a mandarin himself. This proposal has been in the civil service’s bottom drawer for years – it should have stayed there.”

Meanwhile, Labour has been criticised for not doing enough to oppose the Budget, which included another widely-condemned proposal to raise the cap on the cost of wills from £215 to £20,000 – which could force relatives to take out high-interest loans to pay the raised probate costs after the death of a loved one.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn seemingly failed to spot the blunder during Mr Hammond’s Budget speech and it was left to opposition MPs to go on the attack in the media.

Eyebrows have also been raised by the fact there was no mention of housing in the Budget, despite the Government recently publishing a Green Paper calling for a housebuilding revolution.

Communities and Local Government secretary Sajid Javid could be placed in a precarious position if the Government does not make good on another key manifesto pledge – to build 270,000 affordable homes by 2020.

‘Money is piffling in scheme of things’ ‘Theresa May has promised to listen’