As someone who has worked as a contractor, I know the blood, sweat and tears which go with establishing that business. I also know the good side, as I was able, through my own hard work and ambition, to build up other successful businesses.

In that time, I can honestly say I never 'evaded' tax and I never 'cheated' anybody. In fact, the taxes I have paid over the years and continue to pay would easily meet the costs of a few more Ministerial Jags or fact-finding trips to sunnier climes.

If someone called me a cheat or a criminal - because that's what tax evasion is - to my face, the exchange that followed would not be pleasant. So why do politicians think that they can label me and other law-abiding citizens as such, just because they can do so from the protection of a Parliamentary Dispatch box or through the impersonal ploy of a newspaper article?

Let's nail this lie once and for all. Avoiding tax is a legitimate business and personal exercise. Accountants and lawyers are paid vast sums of money to explain how you can best arrange your financial affairs. Take out an ISA, open a Trust, open a Tessa, don't smoke, invest in Premium Bonds - these are all tax avoiding measures. Every large company and probably every individual chooses to avoid tax every day of their lives. It is not illegal - and, as the Chancellor gives with one hand and takes away with the other in his Budget this week - he will probably enshrine in Statute some new and exciting 'tax avoidance' measures.

Now to tax evasion. This is illegal. It is breaking the law so that you do not pay the taxes which you are due to pay. An example, which might be familiar to Ms Primarolo is the non-payment of Poll Tax. As she learnt, that type of tax evasion has the possibility to land you in court. I am not aware of a single 'tax evading' contractor who the Government is planning to target with IR35.

And finally, and what was the nail in the coffin as far as I am concerned - 'cheats'. From the privileged position of the House of Commons, the Paymaster General chose to inform the world that contractors are 'cheating' honest tax payers.

Presumably, by cheating she means committing a criminal offence and operating outside the law. This accusation is both offensive and groundless and used merely as an emotive tool to stir up feeling among her cronies whom she considers incapable of acting on the facts of the argument.

Can it be right for a Government which claims that it supports small businesses and e-commerce to have a Minister who categories these very people as cheats?

If there is any honour amongst politicians, I call on Ms Primarolo to retract her unfounded 'cheat' accusations. Alternatively, she might like to mention this outside the sanctity of the House of Commons?

In the meantime, as someone who decided to give New Labour a chance at the last General Election, I am ashamed that a party I voted for now labels me a 'cheat' with no justification.

If Tony wants to keep people like this in his Ministerial team - he'll soon learn that Government’s who call honest businessmen and women 'cheat' never prosper when it comes to the ballot boxes.

Andy White

19th March 2000