PM slaps down the Chancellor

RELATIONS between Theresa May and Philip Hammond were plunged into the deep freeze last night.

The Prime Minister dramatically slapped her Chancellor down after he undermined her Brexit strategy.

Mr Hammond had said he was not ready to release the billions of pounds needed to prepare for leaving the EU without a deal.

He also insisted any spending should be delayed until the last possible moment.

His stance contradicts Mrs May’s attempt to convince Brussels that Britain is ready to walk away if trade talks are dragged out.

Mr Hammond also risked

angering Eurosceptic MPs who have rallied round the Prime Minister after a difficult fortnight.

In the Commons Mrs May contradicted her Chancellor, saying: ‘Where money needs to be spent, it will be spent.’

The pair sat side by side for the 45 minutes of Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday but barely exchanged a word.

Mrs May revealed the Government had signed off an extra £ 50million for Brexit preparations this year, including money for ‘no deal’ contingency plans.

She said the Treasury would be writing to ministries to release further cash for measures such as border controls.

The row, which sparked fresh talk that the Chancellor could be sacked in an autumn reshuffle, came as:

Treasury chief secretary Elizabeth Truss said she would back Brexit because ‘dire predictions’ had proved wrong;

Mr Hammond warned all flights to Europe could be grounded if Britain left without a deal – a view not shared by the Department for Transport;

Senior ministers were reported to have clashed with him in Cabinet;

Berlin was reported to be insisting on a £90billion divorce settlement.

Some Eurosceptic MPs last night called for Mr Hammond to resign because of his gloomy pronouncements on Brexit.

‘You cannot have a situation where the Chancellor is standing in the way of delivering the Government’s main priority. He has to go,’ said one.

In an article in the Times, Mr Hammond had said: ‘We will find any necessary funding and will only spend it when it’s responsible to do so.’

The Chancellor told the Treasury committee Brexit had placed a ‘cloud of uncertainty’ over the economy.

Bernard Jenkin, a prominent Eurosceptic, suggested it was the Chancellor who was undermining business confidence. ‘Mixed messages coming out of the Cabinet are the source of uncertainty,’ he said.

Brussels is refusing to talk about trade unless Britain agrees a separation figure.

But Mrs May made it clear planning is under way, releasing White Papers on how border controls would work with a ‘no deal’ exit.

DISMAL, defeatist, relentlessly negative – Philip Hammond might just as well run up the white flag to Jean-Claude Juncker and the Brussels bureaucracy.

At every stage in the Brexit process, the Chancellor has struck a pessimistic note over the UK’s prospects outside the EU.

In defiance of Theresa May, he has called for a three-year transition period after withdrawal, while even welcoming the CBI’s calls for an indefinite delay.

Now he has gone further in his treachery, saying he won’t commit cash to preparing for the possibility of a breakdown in trade talks until ‘the very last moment’.

Thus, he pulls the rug from under our negotiators’ feet, sending a signal to Brussels that ministers are bluffing when they assert their readiness to walk away from the table if they’re offered a bad deal.

Mrs May was later forced to confirm £250million has been put aside to prepare for failure to agree. How much longer can she endure being undermined by the Jeremiah next door?

To cap it all, Mr Hammond yesterday raised the scare that all flights in and out of Britain could be grounded on the day after Brexit. Does he really think the British people are stupid enough to believe that?

This paper has immense sympathy for Mrs May, as she juggles with the formidable task of meeting the challenges and opportunities of Brexit, while struggling to keep her party more or less onside.

But she needs to get a grip on her Government. And that means delivering an ultimatum to Mr Hammond: stop talking Britain down – or else!

After all, Mr Hammond has not proved an effective Chancellor. His first Budget was a disaster, his second was unimaginative.

What is clear is that this lack of grip cannot go on. At this crucial juncture in our history, we need a Government with vision and purpose – not half-hearted, lugubrious appeasers such as Mr Hammond.