It also gives Mr Hammond about £25bn that he can release if times turn out tougher than those imagined. He tinkered with support through universal credit, raised the “national living wage”, and banned upfront letting fees. Instead Mr Hammond focused on the United Kingdom’s achilles heel: weak productivity growth. As Mr Hammond pointed out, it now takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five. Mr Hammond has it half right.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2016 19:45 UTC