Two weeks before the European Union referendum, Mr Osborne warned the public that if they voted Leave, the Government would have to push through an emergency budget with £30bn of tax hikes and spending cuts – including taking £2.5bn from the NHS.
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Boris Johnson, the former London mayor and “Leave” campaign figurehead in Britain’s European Union referendum, was appointed foreign secretary on Wednesday in Prime Minister Theresa May’s new government.
Mr Hammond said he would be meeting Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Thursday morning and would take a view on the state of the economy after a series of meetings. There will be an Autumn Statement in the normal way and then there will be a Budget in the normal way, he said.
“We know Philip Hammond very well in Washington from his time as foreign secretary”.
In what may be an early attempt to place blame for a slowing economy with his pro-Brexit colleagues, Hammond said that the prospect of European Union negotiations was hurting confidence.
Following his departure from the front bench, Mr Osborne tweeted: “It’s been a privilege to be Chancellor these last 6 yrs. Others will judge – I hope I’ve left the economy in a better state than I found it”.
“Hammond will also have to take some extreme measures with respect to belt tightening and many of these affairs will not be applauded by public”.
“There has been a chilling effect”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have seen an effect in markets, we have seen business investment decisions being paused because businesses now want to take stock”.
Ratings agency Moody’s assigned a negative outlook to its grading of British government debt the day after the referendum, and analyst Kathrin Muehlbronner said there was now a lack of clarity on the government’s long-run budget plans.
THERESA May has reshuffled her shadow cabinet with a few surprising new appointments.
He’s got a bigger job now and is prepared to take us – cautiously – in a different direction.
The former foreign minister is an un-showy performer dubbed the “grey man” by some, but his work ethic and attention to detail have much in common with those of new Prime Minister Theresa May.
The Bank of England is set on Thursday to cut interest rates for the first time in more than seven years.
Hammond also reportedly said that the United Kingdom will leave the single market, but will re-negotiate access.
However, the indecisive election result, which meant the Conservatives had to go into coalition with the Liberal Democrats to form a government, scotched his chances of becoming chief secretary to the Treasury, the most senior role in the department behind the chancellor.
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Mr Hammond said the Foreign Office, Treasury and Home Office were “well oiled machines” with “highly skilled and competent” civil servants to support new ministers.
