This Is Money Show

It felt like there was something fishy going on during the Budget speech this week. Chancellor Philip Hammond peppered the few official announcements he made with low-rent panto gags and political jibes. Were these a distraction technique? With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that trying to be funny was silly Philly’s way of glossing over one of the more ‘spectacularly dumb’ decisions in modern politics. Big banks brought the economy to its knees in the late noughties, why now go after the self-employed and small businesses to shore up the country’s finances with a National Insurance hike? It was a short, sweet kamikaze mission, especially given the manifesto pledge of no increase in VAT, National Insurance or income tax. A U-turn beckons. As ever, This is Money editor Simon Lambert explains exactly what it all means and how National insurance works for the self-employed. Is it time to merge it with income tax? Also, on the show with Georgie Frost and Lee ‘spreadsheet’ Boyce… A pointless, belo