BREXIT BUDGET
Brexit deal latest: Britain will have emergency Budget next year if there’s No Deal, Philip Hammond vows
BRITAIN will be forced to have an emergency Brexit Budget next spring if there's No Deal with the EU, Philip Hammond has warned.
Confirming The Sun's story earlier this month, the Chancellor said that major spending decisions he hoped to make tomorrow have to be pushed back because of Brexit talks.
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He told Sky's Sophy Ridge today ahead of tomorrow's Budget: "If we don't get a deal… we would need to take a different approach to the future of Britain's economy.
"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."
And he also poured cold water on the Prime Minister's promise that austerity would soon be over - and said it depended on the outcome of leaving the EU.
"We would have to wait and see that the situation was," he added.
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He went on to tell the Andrew Marr Show that the promise to boost spending depended on a "smooth exit" from the EU.
"Once we get a good deal with the EU and a smooth exit from the EU, we will be able to show the British people that the fruits of their hard work are now in sight," he added.
";There are always choices to be made... I have to take a balanced approach."
The Sun revealed earlier this month that we could have a Spring Statement next year to make emergency decisions if there wasn't a deal.
Mr Hammond has promised a double dividend if Britain gets a deal with the EU.
It would mean he doesn't have to spend money on planning for No Deal, and believes that a deal would boost the economic predictions.
But the Treasury believe a no deal Brexit will require an extra £80 billion more borrowing.
If there was a No Deal Brexit he has "got fiscal reserves that would enable me to intervene" he added.
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Brexit talks are still at deadlock over the Northern Irish border and officials are still working on a solution.
Mr Hammond said he was "very confident" that there would be a deal, and No Deal was "extremely unlikely".
And he was going along with the Office for Budget Responsibility's predictions that we would secure an agreement.
Tomorrow's Budget will see Mr Hammond announce record £30billion in funding to fix potholes on Britain's crumbling roads, and new no-interest loans for Brits on poor incomes to tempt them away from pay-day loans.
He used an interview with the Sunday Telegraph to hint at a cash boost for the defence budget, tax on web giants, and pumping millions more into superfast broadband across remote areas of the country.
"It’s the network infrastructure that will make this country work," he added.
But reports say he is only turning on the spending taps to try and save him his job in a post-Brexit reshuffle.
A close ally of Hammond told “The issue is that while she thinks spending is key to survival, he knows it isn’t. He knows that if we throw fiscal competence away to try to buy votes, a) it won’t work; and b) we will lose on the grounds of inconsistency.”
What can we expect in tomorrow's Budget?
- Interest-free loans for poor Brits: Hard-up families struggling with debts will get interest-free cash under a new scheme.
- More money for the NHS: In a policy announced earlier this year, Theresa May said she aims to give the NHS an extra £20 billion by 2023.
- Marriage in McDonald's A shake-up of marriage ceremony laws is on the cards, and Philip Hammond will announce a review to open up more pubs, restaurants and hotels to hold weddings.
- More expensive pints? The government plans to increase the beer duty by 3.5 per cent, which has sparked fury among some MPs and pub chiefs.
- Universal Credit cash: There may be more money put aside to help those struggling due to the changes.
- Fuel duty freeze: Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to scrap a scheduled 2p-a-litre rise at the pumps in the Budget in a victory for The Sun.
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But Brexiteers have told Mr Hammond should use tomorrow's Budget to show the EU we aren't scared to walk away with No Deal.
Priti Patel told Sun readers the £13bn expected windfall should be spent "investing in people, businesses and communities rather than the un-elected and unaccountable bureaucrats of the European Union" - and urged him to fund Britain in the run up to Brexit.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told the same programme that the Treasury was the "bastion of Remoanerism" since the referendum and it would be "better to take the opportunities ahead of us now, rather than waiting a few months".
He wanted to see more planning for No Deal and how Britain would thrive on World Trade Organisation terms - including cutting tariffs and taxes to make the economy more attractive to "get us ready for leaving".
And John Redwood said Mr Hammond must be "optimistic" tomorrow to make it the "Budget for prosperity not austerity".
He wrote today: "This will be the last budget before the UK is an independent country again, if we end up with no deal. It is the time to set a new course."
Cabinet ministers warn Theresa May not to turn Britain into a permanent 'colony' of the EU
AT least five ministers have warned Theresa May not to sign up to Brexit plans that could keep Britain a permanent "colony
Dominic Raab, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Michael Gove and Geoffrey Cox all told the PM she risks a government collapse if she signs up to a deal with Brussels that doesn't allow us to break away when we want to.
“Everyone is telling her not to do this. All the key ministers have been to see her to tell her privately that she can’t sign up to it,” a cabinet source told the Sunday Times.
The EU wants the Brexit plan to include a backstop for Northern Ireland - but Mrs May has slapped it down saying it would split up the UK.
She's planning alternative arrangements to try and seal a deal in the coming weeks.
Here's what we can expect from Chancellor Philip Hammond's Budget of 2018
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