Promise of cash injection for main roads
SHADOW CHANCELLOR John McDonnell has accused Philip Hammond of “callous complacency” over the Budget and Britain’s future.
Mr McDonnell called on MPs across the Commons to vote down the Budget if the Government did not halt the rollout of its controversial Universal Credit policy.
The implications of a no-deal Brexit, he warned, “could be catastrophic” and the Prime Minister should “step to one side” and let Labour get on with the negotiations if Theresa May could not secure a deal protecting jobs and the economy. He told Sky News’s
“Well I thought (there) was callous complacency that came across about this week’s Budget but also about the future.”
He added: “I’m saying to other political parties that if he doesn’t halt the rollout of Universal Credit we’ve got to vote this Budget down, we’ve got to stop him forcing people into poverty...”
Mr McDonnell said he was “really shocked” about the Chancellor’s Brexit comments, adding: “He’s gone back to what he said some time ago, which is basically he seems to have accepted a nodeal Brexit and he does want us to be like Singapore, a tax haven which will undermine our manufacturing base and, I think, put people’s living standards at risk.”
He went on: “We’ve got to ensure that there is a deal and the best way of doing that is Theresa May negotiating a proper deal that protects jobs and the economy. And if she can’t do that she should step to one side because there’s too much at risk from a no deal, and if she can’t do it herself, let Labour get on with the negotiations or let’s have that General Election and let the people decide.”
He added: “We’ve said time and time again, bring back a deal that protects jobs and the economy and, yes, of course we’ll support it.”
He told Sky News: “We put our budget forward last year in the general election, £49 billion worth of investment in our public services overall, paid for, yes, by increases in taxes on the top five per cent of earners and cutting back on corporations tax giveaways and tax giveaways to the rich, that would be a start and we would invest in our economy and grow our economy in a way which would afford our public services.” He also told BBC One’s
that Labour would reverse austerity, and that a no-deal Brexit was “the worst of all options” which could damage the economy. PHILIP HAMMOND will announce what is being billed as the biggest ever cash injection for England’s largest roads when he delivers his annual Budget statement today.
The Chancellor is expected to tell MPs that he is setting up a £28.8bn fund to upgrade and maintain the country’s motorways and other major routes.
The programme – to run over five years from 2020 to 2025 – will be in part funded by revenues from vehicle excise duty, the first time road tax has been ring-fenced for use on the roads network.
It outstrips the £17.6bn invested over the previous five-year period and represents a 40 per cent increase in the budget of Highways England.
At the same time Mr Hammond will allocate a further £420 million to councils to fix potholes and carry out other repairs.