UK fin min Hammond interviewed on BBC TV this morning 19 Nov
- will seek to ease health service measures in a balanced and measured way
- must deliver 300k new homes per year and make a big step up from now
Hammond being interviewed by Andrew Marr ahead of this Wednesday's highly anticipated Budget speech which I will address in more detail from tomorrow. Meanwhile you can get up to speed with the Beeb here.
I watched this morning's interview live and it was notable that he said " there are no unemployed" when crowing about employment/job opportunities. Indeed Marr picked him up on it and Hammond was quick to try and deflect the accusation that 1.4m unemployed remained forgotten. Expect some media fallout on the Freudian slip.
On Brexit:
- we are at something of a turning point, on brink of serious Brexit progress
- we will make proposals to EU on Brexit bill in time for Decmber summit
- we need transition period in place asap, preferably over next few months
- govt has no intention to change to change plan to set Brexit date in law
I have to head out now but don't forget to keep an eye on any developments in the German coalition talks that I highlighted yesterday here
Meanwhile,
