Number 10 slap down Chancellor to insist austerity will end even if no-deal Brexit

Tensions between Theresa May and Philip Hammond have resurfaced after Number 10 insisted austerity will be over even if there is a no-deal Brexit.



The Chancellor repeatedly refused to say whether eight years of public spending cuts will come to an end - as the Prime Minister promised at the Tory conference earlier this month - in TV interviews on Sunday.

Mr Hammond is expected to announce a major increase in public spending in the Budget following better-than-expected tax receipts.

But on Sky News, he said those plans may have to be ripped up if the Government fails to agree a deal with Brussels.

He said: "If we were to leave the European Union without any deal - and I think that's an extremely unlikely situation, but of course we have to prepare and plan for all eventualities as any prudent government would - if we were to find ourselves in that situation, then we would need to take a different approach to the future of Britian's economy."

But a spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted that austerity will end regardless of the outcome of the Brexit talks.

He said "people need to know that their hard work has paid off and that the austerity that followed the financial crash is coming to an end".

The spokesman added: "All of these spending commitments that the Chancellor will set out today are funded irrespective of a deal."

A Labour party spokesperson said: "Tory budgets are usually plunged into chaos after the Chancellor sits down, not before he even stands up. This is confusion on a scale surprising even for this government."