Brexit uncertainty dominated a low-key Spring Statement by Chancellor Philip Hammond, who admitted the Parliamentary deadlock meant “we are not where I wanted us to be”.<\/p>\n
A vote on a no-deal exit will take place later today after the Government’s heavy defeat last night.<\/p>\n
“I am acutely conscious that the House [of Commons] has other things on its mind today,” said Hammond, in his opening remarks. “Last night’s vote leaves a cloud of uncertainty.”<\/p>\n
The impact of the Brexit challenges came through in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts for economic growth, with 2019 cut from 1.6% to 1.2%. However there were slight improvements in growth forecasts in two of the following four years.<\/p>\n
But the Chancellor warned about the risk to the economy of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.<\/p>\n
“The progress we have made will be a risk if we do not secure a smooth and orderly transition from the European Union,” said Hammond.<\/p>\n
The Chancellor referenced the upcoming Spending Review several times, which will give a clearer view of the Government’s longer-term spending priorities. He said he will lead a three-year spending review “assuming a Brexit deal is agreed over the next few weeks”.<\/p>\n
Despite his desire to talk without particularly saying anything during his 35-minute speech, there were a handful of policy initiatives, including:<\/p>\n
– requiring company audit committees to review and report on their payment practices<\/p>\n
– completely exempting PhD-level roles from the visa caps<\/p>\n
– science investments, led by \u00a379m for a new supercomputer at Edinburgh University, \u00a381m in a new Extreme Photonics Centre in Oxfordshire, and \u00a345m to the European Bioinformatics Institute for genomics research<\/p>\n
– a review of competition in the digital market, led by Barack Obama\u2019s former chief economist Jason Furman<\/p>\n
– a new \u00a33bn Affordable Homes Guarantee scheme, to support delivery of around 30,000 affordable homes, with \u00a3717m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock up to 37,000 new homes on sites in West London, Cheshire, Didcot, and Cambridge.<\/p>\n
The Chancellor did reveal two small initiatives for Stoke-on Trent in his written statement. It will received \u00a39.2m funding for next-generation full fibre connections to key public buildings, and nearby homes and businesses, and a further \u00a35.6m for small transport improvements.<\/p>\n
Hammond had previously moved the Budget to the autumn, to allow for more time to prepare for changes before the beginning of a new tax year, and has consistently said the Spring Statement would not contain significant policy changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Low-key Spring Statement forms placeholder ahead of Brexit and the Spending Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2027397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-2027396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n