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Philip Hammond to prioritise economic prosperity in Brexit talks

Chancellor says negotiating team is open to ideas from Brussels and will try to find solution that works for UK and EU

The British government will prioritise the economy and jobs in the Brexit negotiations beginning next week, Philip Hammond has said, in remarks that will be seen as a clear signal of his desire for a soft Brexit.

The chancellor said the British negotiating team would be open to ideas from their counterparts in Brussels as to how best to maintain economic prosperity ahead of the opening of negotiations between the EU and the UK on Monday.

Hammond is reportedly campaigning within the cabinet for Theresa May to U-turn on her pledge to take the UK out of the customs union. The Treasury is said to be in “street-fighting mode” and confident that it will win support from Damian Green, the prime minister’s newly appointed deputy.

Speaking as he arrived in Brussels ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers, Hammond said the prime minister’s pledges to take the UK out of the single market and the customs union remained the “broad principles” of the government’s position going into the talks. He added, however, that the UK’s negotiating team would take “a pragmatic approach, trying to find a solution that works” both for the UK and remaining EU members.

“We are just about to start the negotiation. We set out very clearly our desired outcome in the prime minister’s Lancaster House speech and in the article 50 letter that we’ve sent,” he said.

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