Labour attacks Chancellor before big speech
PHILIP HAMMOND has “abdicated” his responsibility as Chancellor and his “cowardice” over Brexit is to blame for the poor economic outlook, John McDonnell has claimed.
The Shadow Chancellor tore into his opposite number’s record in office during a preSpring Statement speech at Bloomberg in London. He said Mr Hammond was “complicit in every cut, every closure, every preventable death of someone waiting for local hospital treatment or social care”.
“That will be this Chancellor’s legacy, whatever happens with the Brexit negotiations and votes,” he warned. Mr McDonnell said yesterday that slow economic growth, falling investment and firms announcing plans to leave the UK were all avoidable were it not for the “political weakness and cowardice” of the Chancellor.
He said Mr Hammond’s “failure” to stand up for the economy and the interests of the country were to blame. Mr McDonnell said: “The position of the Chancellor of the Exchequer comes with a responsibility which I think Philip Hammond actually has abdicated in his current role.”
Mr Hammond is to use his Spring Statement on Wednesday to set out a series of new measures to protect the environment and promote biodiversity. He is expected to say he has “heard calls from young people” about the degradation of the planet when he delivers his statement in the Commons.
The package will include a global review of the economic benefits of biodiversity, intended to identify measures which both enhance eco-systems and promote prosperity.