Any bid Philip Hammond makes to raise money for the exchequer is shouted down by backbenchers. The next budget will see him scrabbling for small changePhilip Hammond is trapped in a prison cell of his party’s making. On one side,the chancellor is hemmed in by Tory MPs ready to veto almost any tax-raising degree that could give him some room for manoeuvre. On another there are his own and the Treasury’s conservative rules about what to execute about the annual spending deficit, which they agree must drop to zero within the next 10 years.
Hammond is also cramped by the Treasury’s financial forecaster, or the Office for Budget Responsibility,which shadows his every gallop with intentionally conservative predictions about Britain’s economic health. And finally, the chill wind that has blown the cell door shut is the ongoing uncertainty over the Brexit negotiations.
The OBR forecast will rob him of at least half of the £26bn he allowed himself to offset the effects of BrexitContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com