Budget 2017: Tories to address anger over inequality after seven years of austerity and cuts

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. While still promising a “balanced approach”, Mr Hammond will try for the first time to nudge Conservative rhetoric away from strict deficit reduction and towards targeted public spending. He will say: “We must invest to secure a bright future for Britain, and at this Budget that is what we choose to do.” It comes following an election in which anger at years of swingeing cuts, low pay and a lack of affordable housing weighed heavily on voters, with young people in particular abandoning the Tories in droves for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. “Because for the first time in decades, Britain is genuinely at the forefront of a technological revolution, not just in our universities and research institutes, but this time in the commercial development labs of our great companies and on the factory floors and business parks across the land.” Brexit backing Tories have been frustrated by what they see as Mr Hammond’s failure to talk about the positives of Brexit, to the extent that many have called for his head. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are believed to have been critical of Mr Hammond’s approach to Brexit The Chancellor will set out his vision for “Global Britain”, saying it will be, “a prosperous and inclusive economy where everybody has the opportunity to shine wherever in the UK they live, whatever their background”.