Why Rupert Lowe MP’s Restore Britain has it wrong on IR35

Four reasons why none of us should be taken in by 'Scrap IR35' rhetoric, almost regardless of which political quarter utters it.

The official launch of Restore Britain on Friday, February 13th 2026, by Rupert Lowe MP adds to the number of political parties and politicians actively vowing to scrap IR35.

Mr Lowe took to LinkedIn here with his pledge, saying, "Restore Britain would scrap IR35 on day one."

Lowe is not alone, of course, writes Adrian Marlowe, managing director of Lawspeed and chair of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies.

What political parties want to scrap IR35?

Spearheaded by Andrew Griffith MP, the Tories had what Moore News has reported to be a "positive" meeting in the last quarter of 2025, about doing away with the Intermediaries Legislation.

And Reform UK, Mr Lowe's former party, delighted many in November 2025 with Richard Tice MP's pledge to abandon IR35 for "one-person companies."

It was a pledge later clarified by a Reform spokesperson to mean that both IR35 and IR35 reform (the Off-Payroll Working rules) would be axed under a Nigel Farage-led Reform government.

Why 'Scrap IR35' is unrealistic

But unfortunately, all pledges to remove IR35 should be treated with a degree of scepticism, not just where it's a politician's promise, but because it doesn't live in the real world.

Let me give you four reasons why vowing to abolish IR35 is nonsensical.

Reason 1. There's no detail from any 'Scrap IR35' camp about a replacement

Firstly, and problematically, there is no commitment by Messrs Lowe, Tice and Griffith to put anything in IR35's place.

In the words of the first person online to respond to Restore Britain's day-one pledge to scrap IR35, posted by Mr Lowe (much as he posted a year ago here on 'X,' formerly Twitter):

"You haven't explained what you'll replace it with…IR35 was introduced for very valid reasons, the principal one being to tackle tax avoidance."

While any promise to scrap these unwieldy rules, dubbed by thinktank Onward as "the greatest barrier to entrepreneurship", could probably be kept by any political party that jumps on this bandwagon, who is to say that such a party won't simply replace IR35/OPW with another set of tax rules that could be even more onerous?

To read the full Moore News article, which is based on the exclusive comments of recruitment lawyer Adrian Marlowe (who Moore News commissioned), please visit ContractorUK, where this Viewpoint piece was first published.

Why Rupert Lowe MP is right to say IR35 needs revoking

The off-payroll rules are ripe for repeal, replacement, or reform when the chancellor next gets to her feet.

The introduction of the Off-Payroll Working (OPW) rules, notably in the private sector in 2021, has resulted in continuous and consistent damage to the UK’s economic growth, writes Teodora Dimitrova, owner, director and practice manager at Chart Accountancy.

With Autumn Budget 2025 soon to come, and both Finance Bill 2026 and the Employment Rights Bill practically here, the introduction of more measures like IR35 seems counterintuitive.

Yet, thanks to a House of Commons answer on IR35 that Rupert Lowe MP received from Treasury boss Rachel Reeves MP, we know that, sadly, none of the incoming measures in these three government-set pieces will have the effect of repealing the OPW rules.

In short, the OPW rules aren’t going anywhere. And that’s a firm ‘No’ to a deletion from the statute book that Mr Lowe, the founder of Restore Britain, is entirely correct to call for.

What’s the double-disappointment right now for contractors and the UK?

The state of the independent contractor market is disappointing.

It is particularly concerning that the chancellor has described the UK economy’s recent performance as “disappointing” (see BBC News of July 11th 2025), while at the same time, the private sector faces increasing barriers to hiring.

Those barriers impede the engagement of independent consultants, with the IR35 regulations chief among them.

And even the direct employment of those independent individuals is further impeded, thanks to increased employer National Insurance rates, which have been in force since April 6th 2024.

How much has HMRC raised from IR35, apparently?

When IR35 was introduced, the government forecasted an additional £4.2 billion in tax revenue.

It’s an IR35 yield figure that HMRC is sticking to today, notably in its “Update to the impacts of the 2021 off-payroll working rules” research.

However, in my view, this big projection failed to account for the lost tax revenues and missed opportunities for growth, particularly when considering the global competitiveness of our economy.

To read the full Moore News article, which is based on the exclusive comments of accountancy expert Teodora Dimitrova (who Moore News interviewed), please visit Kingsbridge, where this Viewpoint piece was first published.