Philip Hammond accuses Liam Fox and pro-Brexit MPs of “undermining” Theresa May’s hand in EU talks
The Chancellor blasted Cabinet rivals for deciding what post-Brexit Britain should look like, before ministers have even discussed proposals
PHILIP Hammond has accused Cabinet ministers pushing for a hard Brexit of “undermining” Theresa May’s negotiating hand.
The Chancellor exploded a spiralling top table bust into the open after days of briefing against him by other senior Tories.
Giving evidence to MPs, he lashed out at attempts to define what the UK’s exit deal should look like before government analysis has been done and talks have even begun.
Sources close to Mr Hammond told The Sun his rant was aimed directly at International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who has called for Britain to pull out of the EU’s customs union.
The Chancellor told the Treasury Select Committee: “My objective in supporting her is to ensure that she has the broadest range of options - properly costed and understood - in a wide-ranging negotiation.
“Those that are undermining the effort are those that are seeking to close down that negotiating stance, seeking to arrive at hard decisions that we don’t need at this stage.”
Mr Hammond insisted: “Keeping as many options open as possible is the key to the strongest possible negotiating hand”.
Hitting back at allegations that he is trying to derail Brexit, the Treasury chief also insisted that his priority during the Brussels walk out was to protect the economy.
Voters in the landmark EU referendum “mandated us in a way that best protects their jobs, their prosperity and their future”, Mr Hammond added.
But the Chancellor also appeared to contradict the PM’s conference speech attack on quantitative easing and low interest rates.
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Mrs May told the Tory faithful that “a change has got to come” on monetary policy.
But Mr Hammond backed Bank of England governor Mark Carney to tell MPs today: “There will be no change in monetary policy. It is independently determined, and will continue to be”.
The Chancellor also suggested there would be no immigration limit slapped on highly skilled EU workers after Brexit, to allow banks to keep on recruiting the world’s best.
And he attacked predecessor George Osborne’s worst Project Fear predictions before the nationwide vote on June 23.
They failed to take into account any subsequent government interventions, and “have already proved invalid” just four months on, Mr Hammond said.
Giving evidence to another committee yesterday, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said the UK could strike a trade deal with EU “in very short order”.
Attacking pro-Remain doom-mongers, the former Tory leadership hopeful insisted it will be “perfectly possible” to do an agreement within the two year timeframe of the Article 50 talks.