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Issue 28; 7 November 1999

Enterprise
The Chancellor and the Prime Minister both took the opportunity of the CBI conference to promote enterprise and technology at the beginning of last week, but towards the end of the week their Parliamentary actions had belied their conference words.

Mass lobby
Over the weekend of 30th and 31st October, PCG posted details of its lobby of Parliament, intended to educate and inform individual MPs about the ramifications of their actions during the vote on IR35. It was clear the Government intended to reintroduce the Clauses -which had earlier been removed by the Lords- during the final stages of the Welfare Reform Bill in the Commons. It was also clear that - in order to ensure the Bill didn't run out of time - the Government would 'guillotine' the debates. The guillotining provision received as much criticism as the controversial clauses on disability and IR35.

Shadow Chancellor Francis Maude and Shadow Paymaster General Quentin Davies invited PCG members to a meeting in the Commons prior to Wednesday's debate.

Originally a room was booked for 20 people, but after some encouragement by PCG a room, which could hold 100 was organised. Even this proved to be an underestimation as several hundred contractors crowded into the room and the meeting had to be moved to a larger room which was under decoration at the time.

Francis Maude, David Willetts (Shadow DSS) and Lord Higgins put forward the reasons why the Opposition disapproved of IR35. Andy White, Chairman of PCG, explained how the PCG had been born and the strength of feeling among contractors who had been motivated to take on the Government over these proposals.

The meeting was immediately followed by Prime Minister's Question time - the weekly opportunity for Hague to tackle Blair in a Parliamentary head-to-head on a subject of his choosing. On Wednesday, it was IR35 with reference to PCG which dominated the questions, as Blair, for the first time, was required to make public comments on it.

In the meantime, hundreds of PCG members were forming queues to lobby their MPs. At one point, the weight of numbers threatened to overwhelm the House of Commons lobby system as policemen and members handed out 'green cards', the system whereby MPs are summoned to meet their constituents. In the first hour, 400 green cards were submitted - compared to the usual 25.

The response of MPs varied considerably, but all were better informed at the end of the meetings than they had been prior to it. The lobbying continued throughout the day, with one contractor still waiting to see his MP at midnight.

PCG had hired the downstairs bar at the 'politico pub' the Red Lion and members held informal meetings throughout the day with progress updates.

Andy White, David Ramsden and myself were privileged to sit on the floor of the House of Commons to witness the debate on IR 35, limited by the Government to between 10pm and midnight. It was disapointing to see Dawn Primarolo leave the floor of the House at 10 pm and not be present to witness the debate. Stephen Timms, DSS Minister, outlined the case for the Government. With the exception of one Labour MP who sought clarification on a point, no-one from the Government's backbenches spoke. The rest of the two hour debate was dominated by Opposition MPs who, in the main, were working from PCG briefings, PCG members' letters and the lobbying from earlier in the day. Although the Government never had more than two dozen people on its benches when the Division Bell rang at midnight, IR35 was reinstated in the Bill by 345 votes to 203.

The Opposition MPs expressed their displeasure at the manner in which the Government had guillotined the debate and insisted on pushing the outstanding clauses to a vote until 1.30pm. During this time several MPs came up to us to thank PCG members for their support.

William Hague
On Thursday evening, the PCG were present in numbers at a dinner attended by the opposition leader. Andy White sat next to William Hague, who, during his after dinner speech, made four references to PCG and IR35, using it as an example of the 'Government's stealth tax'. Following the dinner Andy White said " It was an excellent opportunity to brief the opposition leader on the knowledge based economy and the damage IR 35 could do to it. We would welcome the chance to carry out a similar briefing for Tony Blair and Charles Kennedy. We are confident that by continuing with our education process we will ensure that IR 35 is proportionate to the aims. As one of our members said, and it was quoted during the debate on Wednesday. -You cannot have a knowledge-based economy with an ignorance based Government"

Kind regards
Susie Hughes
Press Officer, Professional Contractors Group
e: [email protected]

Links:
for links to Hansard: debate and PMQ's; plus text of Andy White's speech at the House of Commons.

What happens next?
The Bill now returns to the House of Lords for considerations of the Commons action. While technically the Lords could vote the clauses out for a second time, it would be unusual for the Lords to take this action after the Commons have reinstated clauses.

The whole process will be repeated in April as the income tax element of the measure will need to be put forward in the Finance bill.

The PCG will be carrying out the following.

  1. Engage in the "consultation" concerning the guidelines to the new rules. A draft guidance paper is to be issued by the Inland Revenue and the Minister confirmed in the House that it would be "sent out to representative bodies - the Professional Contractors Group and others.." Kevin Miller our Accountant will be leading our team on this. As they say "the devil is in the detail" and if anyone is a able to make sense of these complex rules it will be Kevin Miller who produced the PCG alternative RIA and has been involved since March on this issue.
  2. Continue with the education of the Government and opposition parties as well as Clients, Accountants, Agents and other representative bodies. The members themselves, who have the benefit of our briefing papers and discussion forums to ensure they are fully briefed, will carry this out.
  3. Provide an independent source of information to Contractors in the knowledge-based industries. Encourage them to join up and lend their support. To paraphrase Kennedy, if you join the PCG "ask not what PCG can do for you, but what you can do for the PCG".
  4. Following confirmation of the new rules, provide briefing packs for our members including arranging seminars around the Country to ensure, as far as possible, members are fully briefed. We will not carry this out until we have certainty and would hope that this will take place sometime in January. Part of the process will be to work with other representative bodies and draft standard contracts. It will be important when a Contractor starts with a client in April -under a new contract that will demonstrate self employment- that the client has received the same contract from their representative body. The new rules will create great uncertainty and we must work hard to ameliorate the impact
  5. Build on the web site and the organisation to ensure that, if required, we can again make our voice heard during the Finance bill and in the run up to the next election. As Vincent Cable said to the House - " Some of us are beginning to receive postbags comparable to those on fox hunting" That is Unlike Frank Dobson's letters supporting his Mayoral campaign, there is not a form letter amongst them. The web site will also build into a permanent public record of the actions of individual MP's to allow contractors, come the next election, to check on their position on this issue. Contractors understand, that if they do not perform, daily, then contracts are terminated and it is unlikely they will work for that client again. It is one of the differences compared to permanent employment. In Aberdeen it is common knowledge that the Client will write the following initials on a contractors details -NBA- Not Back Again. On the ballot papers it will be easier, just a cross in a different box!

Finally I would like to thank all those who attended the Mass Lobby on Wednesday. With only a few days notice, close to a thousand Contractors marched on the House of Commons, slipped past the media cameras, who quite rightly were focused on the disabled campaigners, and took our message direct to the people whom we elect to govern our Country. Our strategy has been and will continue to be; no fanfare or spin. It is my belief that increasingly we will turn away from the "Orwellian" control of the media as exercised by this Government and look for a message with substance rather than style. Our web site and this newsletter allow us to communicate effectively with the target audience who we wish to influence - The Government and the Contractor. We present the information raw and unfiltered, you then make up your own mind as to our case. The Internet cuts out the middleman - in this case the media and allows us to go direct. It was quite amazing to see Central Lobby overflowing with Contractors and MP's queuing to see their constituents. William Hague told me that during PMQ his attention was drawn to the bundles of green cards being passed down the benches. To those who could not make it, many thanks for the messages of support.

Kind regards
Andy White
Chairman, Professional Contractors Group
e: [email protected]

Membership is invited from Contractors in the Knowledge based sector.

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