Budget: Hammond expected to focus on "getting economy in order" despite extra billions

The Chancellor Philip Hammond will focus on "economic resilience" with a fiscal neutral first Budget despite having bigger-than-expected tax receipts, newspapers have predicted.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Hammond says that the Government will "continue to invest in Britain's future," but is also mindful that with a third of the budget deficit remaining despite reductions in revenue expenditure since 2010, "the job is not yet done" and denounced as"reckless" calls for additional borrowing. The Financial Times says the Budget will be broadly fiscal neutral and Dan Hodges in The Daily Mail says he will not "splash the cash" despite an extra £12-13bn he has to play with. The Sun, meanwhile, says he will instead "build up a £60bn Brexit war chest".

The lack of additional give-aways in the Budget - with the predicted exceptions of social services and 16-19 education - comes despite economists' calls for extra funds for transport, according to Bloomberg.