The OBR said Brexit uncertainty had crimped business investment, while global tensions had weighed on trade. But the pace of growth is predicted to quicken to 1.4 per cent in 2020 and 1.6 per cent in 2021.
The progress we have made will be at risk if we cannot secure a smooth and orderly exit from the EU.
— British Chancellor Philip Hammond
The budget deficit and government borrowing are both expected to shrink further in coming years, helped by buoyant tax receipts and lower interest rates that have shrunk the cost of servicing debt.
The OBR’s forecasts were based on an orderly Brexit, and the OBR did not hazard an estimate of the disruptive impact of leaving the EU without a deal.
“The progress we have made will be at risk if we cannot secure a smooth and orderly exit from the EU and a transition to a new partnership that protects the complex trading relationships businesses have built up over 45 years,” Chancellor Philip Hammond told parliament on Wednesday.
Seeking a Brexit solution
Parliament’s strong show of resistance to leaving without a deal doesn’t take a hard Brexit off the table: the parliament has previously passed a law that makes a no-deal Brexit the default option, and the legal force of this trumps the upcoming vote.
Instead, the aim of the vote is to start concentrating minds on coming up with a positive alternative Brexit, rather than merely repeatedly voting down Mrs May’s deal.
With just a fortnight until Brexit day, there’s little time for the government or parliament to deliberate – prompting the likelihood of a ‘Brextension’ vote on Friday morning (AEDT).
But it remains unclear whether the 27 EU members will agree to Britain’s request for an extension, how long the delay will be, and what conditions the Europeans will put on their consent. They’ll likely consider Britain’s request at a leaders’ meeting on March 21.
Meanwhile, Mrs May might still be hoping for a third crack at passing her own Brexit deal, which has been tossed aside by MPs this week and in mid-January, if the quest for any viable alternative runs out of road.
from Credence news https://ift.tt/2u7NeVA
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