What could the impact of the snap general election be?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks you will be well aware that we are facing a snap general election in June. The polls, the media and most people you speak to already believe that the result of the election is a foregone conclusion.

This won’t stop the other parties campaigning hard and if there is one thing politics has taught us in recent times it is that the unexpected can happen.


So, what impact will the snap general election have on contractors, the recruitment sector and the opportunities?
The UK’s self-employed, contracting and freelancing workforce has grown significantly in recent years. It now represents a significant proportion of voters and hopefully, politicians will recognise that in their policies and campaigning.

Undoubtedly Brexit will be one of the topics which dominate campaigning but we’d also like to see the different parties addressing some of the other issues which are equally important to the contracting community.

NHS, education and defence are other subjects which will feature highly but here are some of the topics we think politicians should be considering if they are hoping to encourage contractors, freelancers and the self-employed to vote.

• Modern employment practices and defining self-employment
• IR35 – contractors are looking for reassurance that changes forced on contractors in the public sector won’t be extended to the private sector
• Tax on dividends
• National Insurance for the self-employed – the conservatives did a recent U-turn on this following the budget because it broke their manifesto promise not to increase taxes during this parliament. Of course, if they win in June then we’ll be entering a new parliament and the possibility that tax increases could be a reality again.

Parliament has been dissolved and the election is just a matter of weeks away but as the announcement was a surprise to many we’re still waiting to hear from politicians on many key topics. We’ll certainly be following the campaigning closely and looking out for policies and promises which could have an impact on the contracting community.