In the run up to the EU referendum, former chancellor George Osborne announced that public spending would be cut and that taxes would increase in an emergency Budget. This would tackle a 30bn black hole that would come about in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU, and would includes measure such as raising income and inheritance taxes.
This announcement was based on predictions from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which claimed a Brexit would lead to the loss of 20bn- £40bn from public finances extending austerity by two more years.
However, Hammond has now ruled out the emergency Budget, suggesting it was best to monitor the economic situation over the summer before setting out any spending targets.
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“There’s a lot of work now to do,” Hammond said. “The prime minister made clear we will do an autumn statement in the usual way in the autumn and we’ll look carefully over the summer at the situation.”
This, he said, was the first step to tackling the governments number one challenge , which was to stabilise the economy. As such, he is set to meet up with Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
He also said: “Britain is open for business. We are not turning our back on the world. We are determined to maintain our outward-looking stance and we are determined to maintain the prosperity of our people and keep on growing the economy and creating jobs in the future, and that’s the message I want to get out there today.
“We will do whatever we need to do to restore that confidence and to keepBritain as an attractive destination for businesses to invest and createjobs.”?
If it’s more news on Hammond you’re after, why not read up on how, with now that his good friend David Cameron has quit, George Osborne has followed suit, which left new PM Theresa May to name Hammond as his replacement.
