THE Chancellor’s dramatic u-turn over a National Insurance hike for the self-employed has been welcomed in the city as it would have been the hardest hit by the plans.

Philip Hammond has announced his key Budget announcement would not be going ahead following a backlash from backbench MPs and the media.

Self-employed workers welcomed the abrupt turn-a-round though the Government faces accusations of being “in chaos”.

The proposals would mean NI contributions increase by 1p in the pound to ten per cent from April 2018 with a further one per cent increase in 2019

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show Brighton and Hove is the UK city with the highest proportion of self-employed at one in five while Worthing, Hastings and Eastbourne also among the self-employed capitals of the UK.

Around 51,000 people from the four places have now been reprieved by the u-turn.

Kerry Watkins quit her £40,000 a year job three years ago to become a freelance social media consultant with her own business socialbrighton.com.

She said: “I welcome the news as I’m sure a lot of others will in Brighton.

“At the moment the NI benefits is well-balanced against the risk that a sole trader takes without the certainty of work

“We don’t get sick pay, we don’t get maternity pay and I have to take the work when it comes along, I don’t take 5.6 weeks of holiday, it is a trade off.

“I have started mentoring at the university of Brighton and what’s worrying is these young people might have their entrepreneurial spirit discouraged in a city like Brighton that is so creative.”

Hove MP Peter Kyle said: ‘The u-turn cannot hide the fact that our city is in Philip Hammond’s sights as he scrambles to fix our nation’s broken finances.

“This will not be the last time Theresa May and Philip Hammond wage a war against those creating wealth and jobs for our community and I will always be on standby to fight back on their behalf.”

Lewes MP Maria Caulfield said she has passed on concerns from her constituents about the changes to the Chancellor at urgent meetings and phone calls over the weekend.

She said: “I stood on a manifesto that promised no increases in NI or income tax during this Parliament and I wanted to ensure that this promise was kept in full.”

Brighton Kemptown MP Simon Kirby said he welcomed that the Chancellor and Prime Minister had agreed that they would be compliant not just with the letter but also the spirit of the commitments that were made in the election manifesto.