Eight things from Philip Hammond’s Budget speech

Here are some things we learned from Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget speech:

– Fiscal Phil, as he called himself during the address to Parliament, insisted we will not be in austerity territory for much longer.

Outing himself as a financial remainer and a fan of firm government, Mr Hammond told MPs: “Austerity is finally coming to an end. But discipline will remain.”

– He seemed to say the Cabinet was revolting. Alluding to the similarities between now and when the Budget was last delivered on a Monday, Mr Hammond said: “It was 1962. Tensions between Russia and the United States were rising. And a former foreign secretary turned chancellor delivered a budget amid Cabinet revolt.”

– Theresa May appeared to be virtue-signalling with her choice of jacket. While Mr Hammond opted for the traditional drab blue tie, the PM’s outfit was much closer to fiery orange.

Perhaps it was a nod to the DUP after all that muttering about them not backing the Budget because they do not like plans for a Brexit backstop put forward by Brussels.

The large sums of money Mr Hammond announced for Northern Ireland will also have caught the eye of the DUP MPs Mrs May depends on for the Government’s majority.

– Mr Hammond made it clear a Brexit no deal could indeed deliver a de-facto new Budget whatever Downing Street might say on the matter.

But, he spun the situation saying the Spring financial statement could be upgraded to a “full fiscal event” rather than use the B-word.

– The Chancellor was not expecting soft press stories if he had gone ahead with a traditional Wednesday Budget which would have fallen on Halloween, musing that one of the headlines could have been: “Hammo House of Horrors”.

– He talked about rabbits a lot. But as he delivered the line: “Every Chancellor likes to have a rabbit or two in his hat as he approaches a Budget”, one opposition wag shouted out it was more like a “dead duck”.

– Mr Hammond is big a fan of toilet humour, cramming as many lame references about lavatories into his speech as possible.

The excuse was the introduction of mandatory business rates “relief” for public loos, with other groan-inducing nods to leaks, conveniences, and not getting bogged down.

– Tory MPs did not give Mr Hammond a standing ovation. But Labour and SNP members did deliver one to protesters from the Women Against the State Pension Inequality group – who demonstrated in the public gallery.

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