CHANCELLOR Philip Hammond’s threat that the Tories will do “whatever we have to” to ensure Britain stays “competitive” in the event of losing access to the European single market should surprise exactly no-one.

“Competitive” is, of course, the usual code for rigging the economy to reward the owners of capital at the expense of those who do the labour.

Hammond’s words to a German newspaper appear to be some of the first shots fired in Prime Minister Theresa May’s new “Brexit means Hard Brexit” campaign — the empty phrase intended to obscure the fact that the Conservatives are, as always, trying to get the best deal for the wealthiest. The transition from the simpler times of plain “Brexit means Brexit” should be interpreted as factions of capital trying to find a way of living in a post-EU world. But for the rest of us, so long as the Tories are in charge, it shall be “business as usual.”

When Hammond says that “we could be forced to change our economic model and we will have to change our model to regain competitiveness,” it sounds a bit silly.

The government was committed to savage neoliberalism before the referendum and remains committed to it now — tax cuts for the richest, attacks on workers’ rights and the running-down and privatisation of public services. Some have speculated that Hammond intends to turn Britain into a tax haven post-Brexit, with the Dutch deputy PM saying that a “race to the bottom for profits taxation … threatens to come into existence if it is up to” the Tories.

Where has he been? Since 2010 corporation tax has been cut from 28 per cent to 20 per cent, with plans announced before the referendum for a cut to 17 per cent by 2020 — the lowest of the G20 economies.

And the City of London has been at the heart of a vast web of tax havens for decades — promoted and protected by successive governments. And what are the EU-negotiated trade deals TTIP and Ceta if not a way of speeding up a race to the bottom by removing all “non-tariff barriers to trade?” This is not some post-Brexit nightmare scenario, this has been our reality for many years.

Still we should not be complacent and the signs point to a doubling down on “free-market” madness, with a more authoritarian and racist tinge.

Particularly troubling is the Ministry of Defence’s announcement that, having spent billions on new war machines, “2017 will see a new era of maritime power for the Royal Navy” with “an ability to project force globally that we haven’t had for decades.”

Back in October, the First Sea Lord declared: “Now that our government seeks to extend the UK’s economic partnerships post-Brexit, the Royal Navy stands ready once again to be melded and aligned for best effect with our nation’s growing global ambition.”

Given these statements, it’s only natural that the man charged with international trade is disgraced ex-defence secretary and empire apologist Liam Fox. It looks like more of the same for us at home, and a return to the past for those previously on the receiving end of Britain’s “growing global ambition.”

THE EXCEPTIONAL news from Colombia at the weekend that workers’ leader Huber Ballesteros has been released after over three years behind bars as a political prisoner is a landmark in the journey towards peace.

Before being banged up by Colombian government goons, Ballesteros was a leader of the Patriotic March — a socialist movement demanding peace — and agricultural workers’ union Fensuagro.

The two struggles are deeply linked, with the Colombian state using the insurgency as an excuse for bloody crackdowns on workers. It is obvious why: organised peasant farmers pose a serious threat to the wealthy landowners who dominated Colombia. A lasting peace can only be achieved with serious economic and political changes, as Ballesteros wrote in these pages 18 months ago. His release from jail is a moment to celebrate and to recommit ourselves to solidarity with the Colombian people in their fight for justice.