The Conservatives call themselves the party of business, but in reality they have a tricky relationship with the business world. Big multinationals with small tax bills are bad. Medium-sized UK businesses, especially in the manufacturing industry, are great. Startups are also wonderful and deserving of all the support the Treasury can dream up. The self-employed and one-person businesses, though, are something of an unknown quantity for the Chancellor George Osborne and co. Self-employment boomed at the height of the financial crisis and for several quarters buoyed the all-important employment figures by covering losses in full-time positions. Despite being the obvious growth area in the economy, there were no tax breaks or bespoke support schemes for one-person companies.
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