In 2016 Britain voted to leave the EU and new Prime Minister Theresa May invited George Osborne to consider an alternative career and replaced him as Chancellor with Philip Hammond, the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge nicknamed ‘Spreadsheet Phil’ by his Commons colleagues.
Five months later, Hammond stood up to deliver his first Autumn Statement and immediately announced it would be his last. “No other major economy,” he said, “has two financial statements in a year.” Thus the Budget was moved to Autumn and, from 2018, the Spring Budget would become the Spring Statement.
And here we are… Eighteen months on from Mr. Hammond’s first announcement, the UK continues along its road towards Brexit and the Chancellor continues to be a man who will “choose our course and stick to it” (or words to that effect).
