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A Date for your Diaries – Hammond Announces Budget

By Richard Butler; Managing Director; Butler Toll

13th September, 2017

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has announced that the next Budget will be held on Thursday 22nd November.

This will be the first Budget since the Government lost their majority in the June snap election.

Mr Hammond announced in his Spring Budget that future Budgets will be held in the Autumn.

The Chancellor told the Lords Economics Affairs Committee that the UK economy had “inevitably been overshadowed by the Brexit negotiation process.

The quicker we can generate some clarity about the future for business and consumers, the better, so we can get back to the business of pursuing what I think looked like a very positive outlook for the UK economy in early 2016.”

John Shepperd, Economic adviser to Butler Toll, commented on the Chancellor’s remarks:

“It is the job of Chancellors to be as optimistic as they can about the outlook for the economy, within the bounds of credibility. But when Mr Hammond cites a return to the now seemingly halcyon days of “early 2016” he may be stretching it a bit.
The Brexit vote fundamentally changed the economic outlook and there are three major constraints impinging on our economic prospects:
the uncertainty about the shape of the final Brexit deal – uncertainty which has not diminished despite six months of negotiations;
the squeeze on real incomes due to the slow pace of increase of average earnings (in part itself due to Brexit uncertainty), and
the rise in inflation induced by the drop in sterling.
Growth so far this year has been subdued, and it is likely to continue to be so as we move through to 2018”.

Please address enquiries to rbutler@butlertoll.co.uk

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