When Theresa May announced at this year’s Tory conference that she would put an end to austerity, it’s safe to say that her Chancellor hardly looked thrilled as he clapped from the front row of the hall. Philip Hammond is regarded as a fiscal hawk and rather averse to loosening the purse strings. At today’s Budget, Hammond tried to get on board with No 10’s ending austerity message. But in doing so, he also attempted to put some clear blue water between ‘end austerity’ Conservatives and anti-austerity Labour.
Firstly, Hammond defined what he sees as ‘ending austerity’. The Chancellor said that ending austerity meant an above-inflation increase in departmental spending. The Tory version of ending austerity also means no tax rises in the quest to do so. ‘My idea of ending austerity does not involve raising people’s taxes,’ bellowed the Chancellor – before taking aim at Jeremy Corbyn for wanting to increase the tax burden.
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