(qlmbusinessnews.com via bbc.co.uk – – Mon, 29th Mon 2018) London, Uk – –
Philip Hammond is preparing to present the last Budget before Brexit.
The chancellor is expected to announce a rise in spending on mental health in England and has also hinted at cash for universal credit welfare reforms.
He has admitted a change of approach, including an entirely new economic plan, will be needed if the UK and the EU cannot agree a deal by 29 March.
Labour is calling for more investment in public services to put an end to years of “failed austerity”.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Theresa May promised an end to the cuts made to public spending since 2010 – and Mr Hammond will be under pressure to spell out how that will work.
Philip Hammond is preparing to present the last Budget before Brexit.
The chancellor is expected to announce a rise in spending on mental health in England and has also hinted at cash for universal credit welfare reforms.
He has admitted a change of approach, including an entirely new economic plan, will be needed if the UK and the EU cannot agree a deal by 29 March.
Labour is calling for more investment in public services to put an end to years of “failed austerity”.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Theresa May promised an end to the cuts made to public spending since 2010 – and Mr Hammond will be under pressure to spell out how that will work.
The chancellor's motivation for holding the Budget in October was to get it out of the way, before the last moments of the Brexit process create a Parliamentary rollercoaster.
It was – in a period of political peril for the government – meant to be non-controversial, “slimline”, almost a “holding Budget”, according to senior government figures.
So far, so non-controversial. Except at the Tory conference the prime minister decided to charge the politics around the Budget by suggesting that the era of the squeeze on public spending was at an end.
Economic editor Kamal Ahmed
The chancellor has a number of competing challenges.
Some of them are economic – can he really “end austerity” by spending more and at the same time keep his promise to control the government's £1.8tn debts?
Some of them are political – don't forget the government does not have a majority and pushing any big tax rises, for example, through Parliament would be very difficult. Mr Hammond is also being lent on to be “more positive” on the economy by his next door neighbour at Number 10, Theresa May.
If the UK gets a good deal from the EU, he said, “we will be able to show the British people that the fruits of their hard work are now at last in sight”.
The two sides have not yet reached agreement, and both the UK and the EU are making contingency plans for what happens if there is no deal.
Mr Hammond told Sky News that in this scenario: “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.”
He said the government had a “fiscal buffer” to provide protection for the economy if needed.
Monday's Budget will be based on the assumption of an “average-type free trade deal” being agreed between the two sides, he added.
Follow the Budget on the BBC
The chancellor has been under growing pressure – including from some Tory MPs – to provide more money to protect people losing out from the switch to universal credit, which merges six working-age benefits.
Asked about this, Mr Hammond told the BBC “judge me by my record” – saying he had committed extra money to the scheme in each of his previous two major financial statements.
“When we see things that need addressing, we address them,” he said.
Labour said the entire Budget should be voted down unless the government agrees to halt the roll-out of universal credit.
“The callous complacency of the chancellor who has refused to make good on the Tories' promise to end austerity is shocking,” added shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
“Nothing less than an end to failed austerity in tomorrow's budget will be acceptable.”
The £2bn mental health pledge is included in a £20bn boost to the NHS announced by the government in June. The current annual mental health spend is about £12bn.
The new funds will go towards ensuring round-the-clock mental health support in major A&E centres and providing more mental health ambulances.
People calling the non-urgent 111 number will be directed to the right support thanks to the investment, the government promised.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock acknowledged there would be no overnight transformation, telling BBC Radio 4's Today that putting mental health services on the same financial footing as physical services was the “work of a generation”.
But he promised the extra resources would come “irrespective” of what happened with Brexit.
Labour responded: “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.”
