- Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has said that if the UK were to follow the advice of some Brexiters and refuse to pay anything to the EU in the event of a no deal Brexit, it would not be seen as a reliable partner for international trade. (See 6.46pm.) In a long appearance before the Commons Treasury committee, he also said MPs would get “adequate time” to consider the Brexit deal (see 4.43pm), suggested that spending commitments in the budget could get abandoned in a future budget in the event of a no deal Brexit, despite Number 10 saying that would not happen (see 6.16pm) and faced criticism for prioritising jobs in the gambling industry over the lives of addicts by delaying a cut in maximum stakes on fixed odds betting terminals.
That’s all from me.
Thanks for the comments.
This is from HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.
(@paulwaugh)
Brexiteer backbencher @SimonClarkeMP asks Hammond isn’t it the truth that your own preference is to stay in the Customs Union?”That’s not the Government’s position,” Hammond replies. Make of that answer what you will…
- Hammond refuses to deny that he would prefer the UK to stay in the customs union. This is not hugely surprising, because Hammond voted remain and it is probably true that his real preference would be for the UK to stay in the EU altogether.
Philip Hammond told the committee earlier that, if the UK refused to pay anything to the EU in the event of a no deal Brexit – an option proposed by some Brexiters – it would not be seen as a reliable partner in future trade deals. He told the committee:
What I can share with you is the advice from Treasury legal counsel. To the extent that we are in the settlement provisionally agreed, subject to everything being agreed with the European Union, we are making good on commitments that have been entered into with the EU’s acquiescence during our period of membership of the European Union. These are obligations that we entered into and they are obligations that will be due in any case.
What we have done in the negotiation is reached agreement on a formula for determining a number post-exist which has been agreed by the UK in the context of a deal. And we would not necessarily be prepared to agree that same formula in the context of no deal.
But it would not be plausible or credible for the UK to assert that in the case of no deal, then no money at all was payable in respect of these obligations that were entered into during our period of membership. If we were to do so, we would effectively rule ourselves out as being regarded as reliable partners in future international deals of any kind, including trade deals.
Hammond says the benefit changes announced under George Osborne will continue. The Conservatives said in their 2017 manifesto that they would not revisit them.
Q: Can you remember what child benefit was in 2010?
No, says Hammond.
McGovern says it was £20.30. Now it is £20.70. That is a real terms reduction.
Hammond says, once the benefit freeze is over,…
