Ian Blackford
Main Page: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)Department Debates - View all Ian Blackford's debates with the HM Treasury
(8 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)
2. What steps he is taking to update the Government's long-term economic plan in response to the outcome of the EU referendum.
Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)
7. What assessment he has made of the near-term effect of the outcome of the EU referendum on economic confidence and growth in the UK.
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
8. What recent assessment he has made of the economic effect of the outcome of the EU referendum.
Mr Hammond
The UK continues to run a very large fiscal deficit by international standards and we will have to address that deficit. We have already announced that we will no longer seek to bring the budget into balance by 2019-20, but that does not mean that we can go forward without a clear framework for achieving fiscal balance over an appropriate timeframe. We will address that issue in the autumn statement.
Ian Blackford
I welcome the new Chancellor to his place and wish him all good luck—for all our sakes, he is going to need it. A Deloitte survey of 132 FTSE 350 chief financial officers found that nearly two thirds of them expect revenues to fall. As the Financial Times puts it, business confidence is now lower than at the time of the collapse of Lehman, with 82% of companies expected to reduce capital spending. This crisis has been caused by Brexit. What tangible steps will the Chancellor take to restore confidence? Don’t just give us waffle—give us real plans.
Mr Hammond
The hon. Gentleman is right; the figures that he quotes are right. The evidence is anecdotal in the early stages, as he would expect. As he would also expect, the initial response to this kind of shock must be a monetary response delivered by the Bank of England. In announcing that interest rates were not to be lowered last week, the Governor made it clear that the Bank is developing a monetary package that will be announced in due course.