People weary of ‘long slog’

Philip Hammond has indicated the government will ease austerity as he admitted the public is “weary of the long slog” it has endured since the financial crash.

The chancellor said the Conservatives were “not deaf” to the message that had been delivered at the ballot box on June 8 and would be looking at the plans it had for cuts to winter fuel allowances and ending the triple lock on pensions.

But Mr Hammond left the door open to raising taxes and said borrowing more is “not the solution”.

“I think people are weary of the long slog,” he said.

Asked if he would go ahead with £3billion of cuts to local government, he replied: “We’ve set out a series of measures that are already legislated for.

“We have other proposals that we will now have to look at again in the light of the general election result and in the new parliament.

“I will be delivering a budget in the autumn and you will find out then what we are proposing. There’s not going to be a summer budget or anything like that.”

Pressed on whether the government would have to change direction, particularly if it does a deal with the DUP, which is opposed to cuts to the winter fuel allowance and the end of the triple lock on pensions, he

“There’s not going to be a summer budget”

replied: “We will look at all these things. Obviously we are not deaf. We heard a message last week in the general election and we need to look at how we deal with the challenges we face in the economy.

“I understand that people are weary after years of hard work to rebuild the economy after the great crash of 2008-09, but we have to live within our means.”