Self-employed workers could have faced a rise in national insurance tax following the budget, but a Government U-turn days later has been positively received in Weston-super-Mare.

More than 13,000 businessmen and women from North Somerset would have had to pay 10 per cent a year in the tax before the re-think.

Weston’s Business Improvement District chairman Paul Batts says the move could have crippled some small firms, and urged shoppers to support local independent businesses in tough trading times.

Mr Batts – who owns Outdoors And Active – told the Mercury: “We are a great seaside destination but we need to back our small and good businesses.

“As supermarkets start to sell more products, the more locally-owned businesses will start to struggle.”