Mixed reactions in Britain following chancellor's budget

Commentators and politicians spent Tuesday carefully studying the small print to determine whether Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivered a good, bad or neutral spending budget Monday to the House of Commons.

Confirming the Prime Minister's message that years of austerity were coming to an end, Hammond's budget was well received in some quarters.

But it failed to appease his opposite number on the Labour benches, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

McDonnell said: "We now have it confirmed that the pledge to end austerity was a broken promise, like the whole budget. It is now clear austerity is not over, the cuts to social security will continue and Hammond gave no assurances that departments won't face further cuts."

He added: "Eight years of destructive austerity has damaged our economy, damaged people's incomes and damaged our essential services. There is nothing in today's budget to repair the damage to schools, the police and local councils."

McDonnell accused the governing Conservatives of hitting those most vulnerable in society, while handing out 110 billion pounds in corporate tax giveaways to businesses.

There was more criticism from Labour's mayor of London, Sadiq Khan who said: "This budget was billed by Theresa May as 'the end of austerity' but that couldn't be further from the truth.

"The budget confirms that the government is pressing ahead with the huge cuts that have caused so much damage to London at the same time as we face a catastrophic threat to jobs and growth from either a bad or no-deal Brexit."

Khan said it was extremely disappointing the government is refusing to give London the funding it needs to go further and faster to tackle toxic air pollution in the British capital.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Business (CBI), described the budget as a rock-solid one, bringing more treats than tricks for business.

Even so, she added, the chancellor had missed some opportunities.

On the impact of a possible 'no deal' Brexit outcome, Fairbairn said there is no hiding from the dark clouds of Brexit uncertainty.

"The Chancellor has made clear that this budget will need urgent attention in the event of 'no deal', showing yet again the seriousness of the situation and the need to get a good deal over the line."

A commentary in the Spectator magazine Tuesday said that by Conservative standards, Hammond's budget was a spending spree.

But the price of that is that Hammond has put off the deficit reduction target again, leaving Labour to pick things out to suggest that actually austerity isn't ending, it added.

The Spectator said the budget served as confirmation that the Conservative party is now fighting on Corbyn's turf, a reference to main opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn who aspires to gain the keys to 10 Downing Street.

An analysis Tuesday by the think-tank the Resolution Foundation found that welfare cuts would continue to affect the poorest households in Britain, despite Hammond's announcement that austerity was coming to an end.

The foundation said income tax cuts for millions of workers announced in the budget will overwhelmingly benefit richer households.

The overall package of tax and benefit changes announced since 2015 will deliver an average gain of 390 pounds for the richest fifth of households in 2023-24, compared to an average loss of 400 pounds for the poorest fifth, said the foundation.

Analysis commissioned from House of Commons statisticians by Labour MP Yvette Cooper revealed Tuesday that men will benefit more from the budget than women.

Cooper said: "The gender gap in the Conservative's tax and benefit policies is getting worse. After 8 years of austerity, women are now bearing nearly 90 percent of the losses from the changes to tax and benefit since 2010.

She said Hammond's decision to cut taxes for those on 100,000 pounds a year helps more men, when he could have done more to sort out problems for families in poverty instead.

Meanwhile Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said Hammond had "got lucky" because tax revenues were better than expected.

Johnson said: "He's just simply decided to spend all of that. I think he has abandoned any idea of getting to budget balance by the mid-2020s."

In its commentary Tuesday, the London-based Times said Hammond promised a budget that "paves the way for a brighter future" but was in truth a limbo budget from a zombie administration.