[Politics] Chancellor Philip Hammond's Spring Statement

[Titanic]

The UK economy is in better shape than expected, Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to say in his Spring Statement.

#despitebrexit

Cue the usual procession of benighted miserablists!

 

[Titanic]

"I won't be producing a Red Book today... but I can't speak for the gentleman opposite"

 

[Titanic]

"Income inequality lower than at any time under the last Labour government"

 

[Titanic]

“I am at my most positively tigger-like today”

 

[Mackenzie]

Great that the economy is going so well hopefully the government can pass some of this cash on to local councils, schools and the NHS which don’t seem to be operating quite as well as they should be.

Looking forward to this fiscal growth actually helping ordinary people.

 

[Titanic]

"A new tech business is being created in the UK every hour"

"More jobs, rising real wages, higher employment, and shrinking debt"

 

[Triggaaar]

Great that the economy is going so well...

You've ruined it, I was hoping we could just leave Titanic to post on this thread on his own.

 

[Titanic]

The OBR projections will mean that the UK will run a current budget surplus in 2018-19.

 

[Titanic]

"Judge me by my record" says Phil.

 

[Mackenzie]

You've ruined it, I was hoping we could just leave Titanic to post on this thread on his own.

I don’t usually bother with the political threads, so it could well be that Titanic is simply being ironic and I’ve been a victim of a particularly nasty whoooooooshing.

 

[Titanic]

"We have cut taxes for 31 million working people by raising the personal allowance in line with our manifesto commitment - taking more than 4 million people since 2010 out of tax altogether"

 

[Titanic]

"Magic beans and free unicorns for all"

 

[beorhthelm]

"Magic beans and free unicorns for all"

McDonnell slipped a page into the speech?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The UK economy is in better shape than expected, Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to say in his Spring Statement.

#despitebrexit

#BrexitHasn'tHappenedYetYouSpanner

 

[nicko31]

I really do thing if we hadn't gone the Brexit route the foot would now be gently taken off the austerity pedal, such has been the strength in the world economy

But its a fools paradise. languishing just above Italy in the G7 table for growth and massive uncertainty on the horizon there will be no giveaways from spreadsheet Phil.

More of the same, and the poor will suffer most

 

[nicko31]

"We have cut taxes for 31 million working people by raising the personal allowance in line with our manifesto commitment - taking more than 4 million people since 2010 out of tax altogether"

Thank you Lib Dems for starting the ball rolling on that one. Whenever there is a budget you become the official spokesman for the Tory party...

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

"Judge me by my record" says Phil.

Are you Phil Hammond in disguise?

 

[Eeyore]

The OBR projections will mean that the UK will run a current budget surplus in 2018-19.

 

[studio150]

"Judge me by my record" says Phil.

OK Phil will do.

You introduced the 26-30 Railcard with much fanfare saying that millions would safe money and be better off. However it is still on a trial basis after the initial trial on selected operators lines, and limited to a further 10,000 but the website just crashes and is basically useless.

Given that everyone knows that it works and that there is a clear demand within the age bracket for such a card, why hasn't it been fully rolled out yet.

No wonder young voters don't trust the Tories when all they get is broken promises and soundbites that fail to deliver.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

OBR: little has changed really

The Office for Budget Responsibility has released its verdict on the UK economy.

And it points out that Britain’s economy isn’t in a much better place than four months ago, when the last budget was released.

The OBR says:

The economy has slightly more momentum in the near term, thanks to the unexpected strength of the world economy, but there seems little reason to change our view of its medium-term growth potential. And while the budget deficit looks likely to come in almost £5bn lower this year than we expected in November, the explanations for this imply smaller downward revisions for future years. As a result, the government’s headroom against its fiscal targets is virtually unchanged.

On Brexit, the fiscal watchdog says there’s been less damage than feared:

The vote to leave the European Union appears to have slowed the economy, but by less than we expected immediately after the referendum – thanks in part to the willingness of consumers to maintain spending by reducing their saving. But it is important not to put too much weight on early estimates of economic activity either side of the referendum, not least because the bottom-up measures of GDP growth in the national accounts differ as to whether growth slowed down, speeded up or remained stable between 2016 and 2017. Consumer debt is also at Sky high levels and cannot be sustained.

And on productivity, the OBR warns that recent improvements may not last.

The biggest surprise in the economic data released since November is that productivity growth – measured as output per hour – has been much stronger than expected. But that reflects a much weaker path for average hours worked, rather than stronger output or weaker employment growth.

The fall in average hours over the second half of 2017 is the largest since mid-2011 and second largest since the financial crisis. But in 2011 the fall in hours and associated pick-up in productivity growth proved to be erratic and were soon reversed. We assume for now that the same will be true on this occasion.