Philip Hammond has confirmed he will jettison George Osborne’s economic targets, although the chancellor remains set on achieving a balanced budget. He said there was a case for “targeted high-value investment in economic infrastructure” to support the economy and make Britain more productive. Told he sounded more like former shadow chancellor Ed Balls than his predecessor, Osborne, Hammond said he hoped he sounded like a “Conservative pragmatist”. The more rigorous austerity measures set out by Osborne “were the right ones for that time”, Hammond will say in his speech. “We cannot be forced into a ‘Hard Tory Brexit’ because the chancellor won’t stand up to his fellow cabinet colleagues.

Source: The Guardian October 02, 2016 23:01 UTC