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Hammond has ‘utterly abdicated’ Chancellor's responsibilities, McDonnell charges

Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Hammond's Spring Statement will do ‘nothing to relieve the suffering of millions’

JOHN McDONNELL laid bare the effects of austerity today, accusing Philip Hammond of “utterly abdicating” responsibility as Chancellor.

Mr Hammond’s Spring Statement tomorrow coincides with MPs voting on whether to pass a no-deal Brexit if they reject PM Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement to,orrow.

In a pre-Spring Statement speech at Bloomberg HQ, shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell said he expects Mr Hammond would only have “warm words” about a need for avoiding a no-deal Brexit and “maybe some more rhetoric about the end of austerity.”

The Spring Statement will include “nothing to relieve the suffering of millions out there today or to prepare us for tomorrow,” he argued.

He predicted Mr Hammond would gloss over the effects of cuts, which include the slowest economic growth in six years, falling investment, a trade deficit of more than £10 billion in the last quarter, and companies announcing intentions to leave Britain.

Mr McDonnell said: “I think all this was avoidable were it not for the political weakness and, yes, these are strong words, the cowardice of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

“Failure to stand up for our economy and failure to stand up for the interests of our country.”

He referred to disparities in funding for poorer and richer parts of the country and inequalities suffered by people of BAME heritages.

Mr McDonnell said: “Male children born in Kensington in Liverpool are living 18 years less than those born in parts of Kensington and Chelsea.

“Over 20 per cent of young people from a Bangladeshi or Pakistani background are unemployed. Over 25 per cent of black young people are without a job.

“A society where 155 women and 103 children a day are turned away from refuges because of funding cuts.

“Deficits passed down to others. Local government on its knees. Child poverty rising. Children being stabbed to death on our streets. Tax giveaways of £60 billion to corporations, 87 people a day dying while waiting for social care.”

Mr Hammond was “clinging to the dogmas of the past and passing the buck for the results of his inaction,” he said.

He suggested the government should overhaul the finance sector to invest in “the industries of the future” rather than lending for property speculation, and create a manufacturing sector that will develop new technologies for a “green industrial revolution.”

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