The Chancellor is set to announce a huge increase in spending on public services in the Budget having publicly clashed with PM by refusing to agree with her claim that 'austerity is over'
PHILIP Hammond will use the Budget to start turning on the spending taps - but publicly clashed with Theresa May by repeatedly refusing to declare austerity is over.
He will unveil a £2billion a year package to provide crisis services for people suffering from mental health problems.
The money – part of the £20billion a year NHS cash injection already announced – will help put a dedicated mental health team in every A&E and state school.
More ambulances will also be equipped with mental health specialists who will be able to respond to people having violent breakdowns - relieving other public services like the police.
The Chancellor will delight motorists with a £30billion five-year spending spree on fixing Britain’s crumbling roads – as well as extending the £9billion a year fuel duty freeze.
He is also expected to announce up to £900million extra spending on defence after intense lobbying by Tory MPs.
Other spending pledges expected today include a £1.5billion to slash small retailers’ business rates bills by a third, nearly £1billion extra for elderly social care, hundreds of millions to boost rural internet and £60million to plant trees to boost property values and protect against flooding.
And Mr Hammond could also bring forward a popular income tax cut by raising the personal allowance to £12,500 and higher rate threshold to £50,000 as early as next April.
But despite generous spending and tax give-aways in specific areas, the Chancellor pointedly played down expectations of lifting the lid on a decade-long squeeze on public spending across the board – saying Brits would have to wait until next year’s Spending Review.
He used his TV interviews to emphasise that a “balanced approach” was still needed to the public finances.
And he repeatedly refused to echo the Prime Minister’s promise to end austerity – a pledge that formed the key plank of her Tory party conference speech last week.
It is the latest sign of the tensions with Mrs May over her decision to overrule him on economic policy ahead of the Budget.
Asked about the PM’s declaration that austerity is “over,” Mr Hammond would only say that the end was “in sight”.
And in a notable sign he disagrees with the PM, he told the Andrew Marr Show: “There are always choices to be made, however well the economy’s performing, however strong the public finances, we still have to make choices, and I’ve chosen a balanced approach which places equal weight on getting the debt down, keeping taxes low, supporting our public services and investing in the skills and the infrastructure and the technology that will drive Britain’s future prosperity.”
Mr Hammond added: “Once we get a good deal from the European Union and the smooth exit from the EU we will be able to show the British people that the fruits of their hard work are now at last in sight.
“What I will be doing is setting out a path of public spending that will take us from the spending review onwards, but the detailed allocation to different departments is something that is for next year.”
Mr Hammond’s £2billion a year extra for mental health services will be the first stage of the NHS’s long-term plan to achieve “parity of care” between physical and mental health.
The extra cash will help pay for the provision of “comprehensive” mental health support in every major NHS A&E department, ensuring anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can get rapid specialist help.
Officials say it will be backed up with more mental health ambulances and the establishment of dedicated mental health teams in schools, linking them to other support services.
Callers to NHS 111 will be directed to support services 24 hours a day and there will be greater access to services in the community, such as “crisis cafes” where people can get help without going to A&E.
The additional funding forms part of the extra £20 billion-a-year by 2023 for the NHS in England which Theresa May announced in June.
But Labour’s shadow health minister Barbara Keeley expressed scepticism about the promise of extra funding.
“If this announcement is simply money that’s already been promised, it will do little to relieve the severe pressures on mental health services that have built up because of this Tory Government’s relentless underfunding of the NHS,” he said.
“People with mental health conditions cannot afford to wait five years for meaningful action from this Government: too many are already waiting many months to access the treatment.”
