WE’RE in the grip of Brexit with, at the very least, an uncertain and precarious economic future, and Chancellor Philip Hammond chooses now to play it for laughs.
Puns abounded, it’s all a big laugh. And it’s still all Labour’s fault, despite the truth that we’ve been under the Tory yoke for nigh on a decade.
A Budget on a Monday, in October? Why?
READ MORE: Budget 2018: ‘No end to Tory austerity in Scotland’ warns SNP’s Mackay
Hammond quoted projections going forward until 2023. Numbers plucked out of a hat knowing he won’t be around to be held to account for getting it wrong.
Lots of collective Tory backslapping for how well the economy is doing and how we’re all going to be better off under his schemes. Except for Universal Credit that has sucked money from the poor and needy, and the burgeoning food banks needed because of Tory policies that mitigate against the weakest members of our society, and even those working poor whose incomes under the Tories can’t sustain their families.
Watching his “Hammond show” one simple truth was prevalent. It didn’t matter how optimistic his projections were, nor how attractive the promises he made that austerity had ended, nor did this Tory government’s largesse kid us they care – all of these are foundations built on quicksand because the good deal he claims we will get for Brexit is fantasy.
Hammond saying we will get a good deal doesn’t mean it will appear. No-one is fooled.
This Budget was a presentation shambles. Pathetic attempts at humour striving to mask serious flaws in the British condition.
Don’t we need to vote independence to have serious politicians dealing with the real interest of and for Scots?
Because this Westminster circus just doesn’t cut it.
Jim Taylor
Edinburgh
REGARDING Philip Hammond’s Budget and the “opposition” response, can I just check that I heard correctly. Is the House of Commons actually going to spend time debating this fantasy Budget – which will be obsolete in March 2019 regardless of whether there’s a Brexit deal or a Brexit no deal?
I would suggest this is fiddling while Rome burns except my eyes and ears and mouth are already clogged with cooling ashes.
In case no-one noticed – Brexit means economic no man’s land at this point. None of the fantasy new trade deals are in place and our biggest buddy across the Atlantic is psycho-gaga and successfully plunging the planet into both trade and cold wars.
Is Westminster suffering Budget dysmorphia – or just blind stupidity?
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
I WAS very disappointed with the Budget, which I found to be a mixture of meaningless gestures and uncertainty. The Chancellor failed to acknowledge the underlying economic weakness the UK faces, but hey, he’s a politician! You can’t expect him to be honest with us.
Our slower growth rate since the EU referendum has knocked several billions out of the UK economy, at least £1 billion a month since 2017. Our growth rate is now lower than any EU country except Italy, at around 1.4%, compared with that across the EU of over 2%. The Office for Budget Responsibility thinks that the UK economy can no longer withstand growth rates faster than about 1.5 per cent a year without overheating, needing higher interest rates to control, with the result a hit in the pocket for all those with mortgages and other borrowing.
READ MORE: IFS smash claim that Hammond's budget ends austerity
Despite this gloomy outlook the Chancellor feels able to bring forward reductions in income tax, including those earning over £50,000 a year, in the expectation that the “trickle down” effect will help the economy, a policy which has failed to deliver in the past. The Chancellor has stated that the days of austerity have ended, but his promise of an extra £100bn of public expenditure are as much of a pipe dream as other government promises. In case we need reminding, here are just some of them. They said they would:
- Balance the books by 2017 and then run a budget surplus;
- Work to end child poverty;
- Deliver a strong NHS;
- Cut net migration;
- Protect school funding;
- Increase British exports to £1 trillion by 2020;
- Ensure the NHS has enough staff to meet needs;
- Give workers the right to three days volunteering leave every year;
- Cut serious crime, and
- Increase the numbers of doctors and police.
Not one of these has been delivered. How is it, then, that the public has greater confidence in the Tories management of the economy than any other party? Don’t ask me!
Pete Rowberry
Duns
DURING the Budget Philip Hammond’s statement was heard in silence for the most part. Jeremy Corbyn was then interrupted by the Tories and the Deputy Speaker had to intervene.
No BBC TV coverage of Ian Blackford’s SNP response. Maybe Liz Truss wished she had seen the response because we would not have seen the car-crash studio interview she had on the BBC Budget special. She was all over the place not sure on details and looked as if she was desperate for the show to end.
This should be called the “maybe Budget”, because if it is a hard Brexit this one is out the window and an emergency Budget, according to weekend press reports, that has already been drawn up will be used instead.
David Ritchie
via email
I NOTE that one of Mr Hammond’s brilliant ideas is to have a 50 pence special Brexit coin. Will this replace the coin formerly known as the pound?
Angus Ferguson
Glasgow
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