Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond returns to Downing Steet in London, Britain, December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
December 30, 2018
(Reuters) – UK Finance Minister Philip Hammond has been accused by his colleagues in the cabinet of failing to release the necessary funding required to prepare Britain for a no-deal Brexit, the Telegraph newspaper reported late on Sunday.
British Communities Secretary James Brokenshire has written to the Treasury saying his department was given 35 million pounds ($44.46 million) for helping councils prepare for Brexit, the amount being less than half of what had been requested, the newspaper reported.
At least another department had made a similar complaint about Hammond’s failure to release more money, the newspaper reported without mentioning further details.
Brokenshire said his department does not have enough to prepare for Brexit whether Britain leaves the European Union with or without a deal, the report added, citing the British Communities Secretary’s letter to the Treasury sent shortly before Christmas.
($1 = 0.7873 pounds)
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru)
