UK finance minister says end to austerity depends on Brexit deal
Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer, the top finance and economy official in the country, says an end to years of austerity will depend on whether the UK will be able to secure a deal on its withdrawal from the European Union.
Philip Hammond warned Sunday that if Britain fails to reach a deal on Brexit, the country must reverse plans to ease nearly a decade of austerity.
“We would need to look at a different strategy and frankly we’d need to have a new budget that set out a different strategy for the future,” Hammond told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Hammond is due to announce his annual budget on Monday.
He is under pressure to end a series of spending cuts that have been put in place since 2010 when the then Conservative-led government introduced them to shrink the budget deficit.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May told the British parliament last week that years of hard work by Britons had paid off and they could celebrate the end of austerity measures.
However, the opposition has cast doubts on May’s claim, saying tens of billions of pounds will be needed to offset the impacts of austerity, including the increased rate of poverty.
Hammond’s remarks about the need to secure a Brexit deal to end austerity come as many across the political spectrum continue to oppose May’s Brexit strategy.
They say May and Hammond want to keep Britain as close as possible to the EU after the country leaves the bloc in March 2019.
Britain and the EU have expressed hope that they could sort out differences on trade and the future border in Ireland in order to reach a Brexit deal in November.
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