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| Budget 2017 live: Hammond signals economic gloom during Brexit years | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog of today’s Prime Minister’s Questions and the Chancellor’s 2017 Budget: | Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog of today’s Prime Minister’s Questions and the Chancellor’s 2017 Budget: |
| Chancellor Philip Hammond is delivering a Budget he insists will deliver a "brighter future" - but admitted growth forecasts from next year to 2020 have been cut. | |
| Mr Hammond said the UK economy had "continued to confound the commentators" by delivering "robust growth". | |
| But the new statistics from the Office for Budget Responsibility show the British economy is now expected to grow at a slower rate than before the Brexit referendum, all the way through to EU withdrawal and beyond. | |
| With Prime Minister Theresa May expected to start the formal Brexit process within weeks, Mr Hammond told the Commons: "As we start our negotiations to exit the European Union, this Budget takes forward our plan to prepare Britain for a brighter future; it provides a strong and stable platform for those negotiations." | |
| He announced that mobile phone roaming charges outside the EU would be subject to VAT, a 20 per cent tax paid by the consumer - meaning mobile phone roaming bills will rise by 20 per cent. |