Taxes may have to go up to end the ‘long slog’ of austerity warns Philip Hammond as he claims Government was ‘not deaf’ to voters’ anguish
Chancellor said he heard the anguish of 'weary' voters after seven years of belt tightening
TAXES may have to go up to end the “long slog” of austerity, the Chancellor has warned.
Philip Hammond claimed the Government was “not deaf” to the anguish of “weary” voters after seven years of belt tightening and heard that message at the ballot box last week.
Mr Hammond said he was “listening”, but added “the issue is we still have a deficit - no one can spend 2.5 per cent more of what they earn every year.”
Hinting he could reverse £3billion of planned cuts to local government budgets in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, he warned: “We have never said we will never raise some taxes.”
He told the BBC Andrew Marr Show: “I think people are weary of the long slog.”
Asked about future cuts he said: “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.
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“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 in light of the losing their majority, Mr Hammond said: “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.
“More borrowing, which seems to be Jeremy Corbyn’s answer, is not the solution.
“Overall, we are a government that believes in low taxes and we want to reduce the burden of taxes overall for working families.”
