It never ceases to amaze IR35Calc at how poor politicians are when it comes to answering questions directly. It amazes us more that Dawn Primarolo does not appear to speak to Patricia Hewitt (the e-commerce minister)....
Recently (13-Dec-2000) Patricia Hewitt stated "I do not think I have had any small businesses raise IR 35 with me. I have had a couple of large businesses saying they have lost a few contractors as a result of IR 35. I recently spoke at a main session of the CBI Conference on e-commerce generally, a big panel discussion, and nobody raised IR 35."
Patricia Hewitt does know what is going on, but lied (sorry, side stepped) the issue with the DTI Select Committee.
FAIR35 recently posted a message on a discussion thread on a public IR35 board asking people to join them in raising this fact since it is "...a clear breech of House of Commons Select Committees, Guide For Witnesses, Section 20".