City jobs are safe, says Hammond

THE UK will avoid a mass exodus of bankers after Brexit thanks to successful negotiations with Brussels, Philip Hammond said yesterday.

In an upbeat speech, the Chancellor said the UK had ‘dammed the flow’ of financial services jobs from the City to European rivals.

Mr Hammond was also positive about prospects for the UK economy, saying he hoped to exceed a downbeat forecast made by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March and ‘deliver a positive shock’.

He said: ‘We have dammed the flow and avoided what could have been a haemorrhaging of jobs from the UK into the EU.’ The Chancellor’s comments in Washington came after a visit to Wall Street, where he went to the investment banks and fund managers who have chosen to make their European headquarters in Britain.

The City is enormously valuable to the British economy, generating a surplus on services of £80 billion a year.

Mr Hammond – who has been criticised for his pro-Remain leaning and gloomy forecasts – said: ‘We have got to the point where debt is going down. Inflation has fallen sharply and earnings are continuing to rise so we are back to rising real wages. The most important metric for ordinary families is real wage growth.’