London — British finance minister Philip Hammond warned rebels in his Conservative Party that he would have to quickly reverse plans to ease nearly a decade of austerity if London fails to get a Brexit deal. Hammond, who is due to announce an annual budget plan on Monday, said he would be able to show voters that "their hard work has paid off" as long as Britain achieves a smooth exit from the EU in five months’ time. Hammond has angered many members of his party by arguing that Britain should remain close to the EU after Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May has so far failed to bridge the divide in her party and many businesses are worried that the chance of a no-deal Brexit is growing. He was confident that London and Brussels would settle their differences but "if we don’t get a deal … we would need to take a different approach to the future of Britain’s economy". "We would need to look at a different strategy and frankly we’d need to have a new budget that set out a different stra...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.