Hammond is a rare beast – most holders of his office have done everything they can to extend their power.
The green lobby may want to think that firms are acting to arrest global warming – but they’re not.
He sounded positive where those forecasts were negative – perhaps because he wasn’t delivering that Punishment Budget. But the enduring deficit remains an achilles heel.
One historical study has found that, on average, authoritarian parties surge by around 30 per cent as the economic consequences play out.
The OBR’s assessment is “consistent with a range of possible outcomes that we can keep under review in future forecasts”. In other words, it’s sorry – but it hasn’t a clue.
The Chancellor’s big task today is to give business a sense of the Government’s plan for Britain post-Brexit.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, sacked by Cameron, is back under May – and helping to reverse Osborne’s clampdown on welfare for working people.
Perhaps the 60 million Americans who backed him simply thought other factors were more important. But is that judgement bigoted in itself?
Also: Demands for probe into expenses of SNP MPs as costs soar; economist says Wales no longer ‘significantly underfunded’; and more.
We propose a compromise.
They must not be allowed to succeed.
A lot has changed since 2010. The Autumn Statement should reflect the new financial and political reality.
The most dramatic option is to cut whole areas of capability in order to focus on the remaining core ones.