Hammond’s on another planet
#SO, we are led to believe Britain is booming again and there is “light at the end of the tunnel” after eight years of Tory austerity. In his Spring Statement, Philip Hammond boasted that wages are up, that there are jobs a plenty and inflation and borrowing are falling (Mirror, March 14). Yet only hours later his party voted to deprive many future children of a free school meal, while the NHS and public services are crippled in the face of Tory cuts.
Ask one of the millions of workers whose wages have stagnated, or those struggling on zero hours contracts if Britain is booming, Mr Hammond, and I am sure they will give you a different answer. Stephen Dixon, Redcar, N Yorks
#Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement was typical, Tory policies for the few, not the many. There are always the same promises for a future that never materialises. Did anyone notice the sneering of Tory backbenchers when the less well-off were mentioned? Again, typical Tories, they ask for your vote then laugh at you for giving it to them. Paul Jones, Bridgend Mid Glamorgan
#For Philip Hammond to crow on about our booming economy after several long years of enforced Tory austerity is absurd. The truth of the matter is we have never had it so bad under the Tories and this will continue as long as they remain in power. You only have to open your eyes to ascertain the inequality caused by the Tories – the super rich prosper more by the week.
Working people are far worse off now than in 2010 and hard-up families are going to lose several hundred pounds a year due to benefit cuts from April. Name and address supplied
#This Tory government has wasted the last eight years on austerity policies that have run the UK into the ground. Their cut, cut, cut mentality with no real investment into our infrastructure, unless you live in the South East of the country or London, has done huge damage to the regions.
Hopefully voters will see sense at the local elections in May and give the Tories a bloody nose. Thomas Wiblin Hebburn, Tyne and Wear
#Philip Hammond claimed there is light at the end of the tunnel. He then joked about Labour being pessimistic and rejected their calls to use extra tax cash to ease the spending squeeze. Surely he’s the one who is joking. How is Britain booming when we’re in for more austerity and public spending cuts? David Mellor, Warrington, Cheshire
#We have the slowest growing economy in the G7 after eight years of austerity. All that pain for no gain. Any money this ideologically driven policy has saved would have been more than matched with increased growth by not cutting spending, as was predicted before the Tories came to power in 2010.
The sick, disabled and poor are paying the price. Frank Keys Wilbarston, Northants
#Philip Hammond is a Tory millionaire which means he has no idea about how ordinary people live. He has locked his conscience in a great big deep freeze. Irene Sepion South West London
#Trump hasn’t realised how much damage his steel tariffs will do. America has to import various specialist steels they cannot produce. This will increase building and engineering costs in the US dramatically. L Rust, Chesterfield Derbyshire