UK chancellor under pressure over budget plans

A new report says weak economic growth and sluggish tax revenues in June has put UK government in trouble preventing it from reducing its spending deficit and reviving ailing public services in the autumn budget.

According to the report by The Guardian, the UK government expected to see its deficit to “decline by more than £1bn compared with June 2017, following a steep fall in interest payments on the government’s total debt bill and a cut in EU budget contributions the Treasury sends to Brussels.”

Now as things stand, the hope was dashed by a fall in the tax revenue growth and the deficit was reduced by £800m year on year.

“Closing the deficit at a faster rate would have created more room for UK Chancellor Philip Hammond to meet Prime Minister Theresa May’s  promise of an extra £20bn a year in public healthcare funding, phased in over the next five years,” The Guardian said.

With the gloomy future predicted for the coming year, the UK government expects only a slight improvement in its spending deficit, mostly in response to the ongoing Brexit negotiations.

Britons voted to leave the 28-nation bloc in June 2016, but negotiations were only launched a year later and have bogged down frequently since then.

Stumbling blocks include the future of the border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland against a backdrop of discord in London.

May is battling to unite her Conservative Party around her blueprint, formally unveiled last week following months of cabinet infighting.

It would see Britain ask the European Union for a free trade area for goods through a "facilitated customs arrangement" alongside a "common rule book".

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