the ii‘ul‘ei ffififiatifisfl the financial times, absolutely. the the financial times, it is clear that every silver lining has a brexit cloud and it took that view on the budget front page. they wa nted view on the budget front page. they wanted to emphasise that philip hammond was saying in his speech to the house that all this could go very bad if there was a hard brexit. the news cycle has forgotten that this budget takes place against a backdrop of internal strife in the conservative party and that philip hammond, while he had that money to give away, those tax revenues are up, bringing forward all those giveaways, but it could all go very badly wrong next year if there were a hard brexit. that is what the paper wanted to underline. in fairness, it is also what philip hammond intended to be picked up. interestingly, the word count shows that he only mentioned the word brexit wants, although it was clearly in the background. brexit wants, although it was clearly in the backgroundm brexit wants, although it was clearly in the background. it was indeed. i'm struck by the

telegraph's handling of this, by calling a brexit bonus. there is nothing particularly brexit related to the actual tax cut that he announced today. he could have done that at any time. it is not related to leaving the eu. it says something about how the telegraph wants to spin brexit as a positive thing, by linking this tax cut which he brought in the year earlier, raising the personal allowance and also raising the higher rate threshold and bringing forward a year early and bringing forward a year early and same, this is great because brexit is good and this is why you should be supporting it. in fairness to the chancellor, he was reflecting what the obr were saying. it wasn't just the treasury. the obr were making very clear that their forecasts are predicated on a smooth brexit where we don't crash out. and it would change if we did. other papers have got a bit of brexit tou rette papers have got a bit of brexit tourette syndrome going on. whatever

they want to see in the budget is through that particular prism. the etihad line —— the ft headline message is that even if it wasn't transparent, the implication is, you behave yourselves behind me, because i need your support for the kind of brexit that i am pursuing. exactly. philip hammond has had a rock'n'roll time as chancellor. he is now on good terms with theresa may as she is extremely weak. so his good terms are linked to a very weak and prime minister and she is doggedly pursuing that brexit deal and we will see what happens with that by the end of the year. but he was sending a strong signal. looking at the balance of power in the cabinet, i think he was trying to peel off the pragmatic brexiteers who might find that argument appealing and it was interesting that you mentioned the obr, ben — they can read the obr

as well as anyone else and realise that if they don't get something close to a deal that things could go badly wrong. he will certainly have a lot of people, the eurosceptic wing will say, we don't believe this, you arejust wing will say, we don't believe this, you are just trying to frighten us. but it is not a bad way for philip hammond to sort out where people fall on this. the other line was the end to austerity. how much ofan end was the end to austerity. how much of an end we actually to see? well, it was set up very firmly that it would be an end to austerity by theresa may at the tory party conference. i think he has tempered it rather than ended it. he has taken the edge off. the big bulk of new spending is obviously the nhs. for other departments, which we know

are facing an ongoing squeeze beyond the nhs and defence, the other departments are still going to face that. the idea of an end to austerity for those non—protected departments is for the birds. there was a slight toning down of the edge oi'i was a slight toning down of the edge on welfare, by putting more money into universal credit. but there are also other welfare cuts still going through. let's look at one new tax. you were both intrigued by this. this is referred to on the front of the metro and other papers as the new digital services tax on global giants such as google. yes, this appears to be the only way the treasury can find to get hold of the likes of google. it looks like it is designed to catch google, facebook and amazon. you would think there

might be worries about anything to do with digital tax, because so many companies are digital. my first response was, it would be typical of blundering chancellors around the digital economy to find they have closed down half of the economy. one never quite knows where these things will end. but we can be confident that that isn't the case, partly because of the threshold for the turnover is so high at 400 million. and it is global and it is true that we have not been able to tax big companies who make money from those digital transactions in the uk because they have headquartered themselves in luxembourg or somewhere else. so let's see whether that captures anything. my understanding was that yes, this

will come in, but if in the interim, a better international deal is done, that might usurp it. he is very much hoping that the oecd, which looks after this multinational tax deals, will come up with something and he will come up with something and he will never have to implement it. these things are not done on a multilateral —— these things are done on a multilateral basis and best conducted through other countries. it did raise the spectre of him having to phone up nick clegg, who is going to work for facebook, and saying... he would have to bend his ear. maybe you are right, he is hoping that someone else will do that. well, they happily shared time in coalition together. happily is an interesting way of putting it! let's go to the independent. no—deal brexit would scupper austerity pledge, ben. we

are back to this idea from the independent‘s point of view that no deal would be nothing short of a disaster. and that is the link that you are making. hammond is trying to ride two horses at the same time. he is trying to use the carrot and the stick. he wants to scare people into thinking, if we have a chaotic brexit, it will mean all these goodies i have laid out in front of you will be taken away. but he is also saying this concept of the double bill dividend, the triple the bonus for the country, is that if you get a deal, not only will the economic forecasts been revised up, creating more fiscal space, but also, this little watch as i have put away, i will be at the raid that. so you get this double whammy of more spending power for tax cuts and more spending on public services. so he wants to say, go for that, and be afraid of the alternative. i thought the

independent was right to pick up on something else. hammond says government cuts are coming to an end. isn't the continuous present a wonderful way of doing verbs! theresa may, when her back was really to the wall last week, she seems to suggest that this was the moment austerity was ending or even had ended. now of course, chancellors are generally more cautious. and they also get all the blame if it can't be delivered. he seemed to suggest it was an ongoing process. this is a liability for the conservatives. it is like saying, remember the paradox of the arrow that never hits the wall. is anyone ever going to say, austerity is over, you have delivered enough? that was a bit of a trap for the tories. they kill you felt that they had to do something and there is a lot of interpretation about whether

this presaging an early election. my feeling is that this is a hedge. they have to do something to show this is not of the government of brexit. moving to the guardian, you said something earlier about the british ship between messrs hammond and may having improved significantly. and that is the guardian's reading, but they are looking to shore up. yes, and it is not because of a particular warmth between hammond and may, but they have found themselves in the same position. the chequers deal, which is unlikely to go through in its present form, but it is closer to what philip hammond once. so there is something there which philip hammond is prepared to be the praetorian guard for theresa may and trying to stop the assassins coming for her. what he gets out of it, and i think he is genuine about it, is that he thinks a harder brexit would bea

that he thinks a harder brexit would be a disaster and he doesn't want to be a disaster and he doesn't want to be the person who is in number i! when that happens. what do you feel about that, ben? anne is right. there may be no love lost between them and it may be a rocky relationship, but we have seen those forecasts that were leaked from the treasury from the brexit department. they are the kind of thing that hammond looks at every single day and he is genuinely worried. in our final minute, at least this time, angela merkel is on the front of the guardian. thoughts on her decision to retire, but not before 2021?|j doubt to retire, but not before 2021?” doubt she will make it 2021. that was my next question. if you say you are going to retire in the future, does that not mean it is going to happen earlier? the way german politics works, you can divide off the party leadership more easily from the role of chancellor and others have done that. it has happened in the wake of two bad

elections for angela merkel. she never really got her mojo back after the general election in the wake of her decision which was seen as a humanitarian triumph for the refugees. there was something in german society that she was unable to balance as well as she had done. but it has been a remarkable run. i started covering angela merkel in 1989, when i was very young. we should not forget, when people go in a slightly messy way, that this has been an extraordinary run by an extraordinary politician. we were just talking about austerity, and her legacy in europe, never mind germany, will be in places like italy and greece, one of imposing austerity in a way that backfired. we may return to that next time. thank you both for the time being. that's it for the papers this hour. thank you, ben and anne. you'll both be back at 11.30.

after a cold weekend, at least most of us have seen some sunshine. there was a rainbow in nottinghamshire this afternoon. the big picture is messy. atlantic weather fronts are not an issue yet. but this area of deep low pressure elsewhere in europe, with disruptive wind, snow out of that, is pushing northwards. it will clip parts of eastern england tomorrow. in terms of the night, the blue is mainly across the western side of the uk. this is where we will see the lowest temperatures and a greater chance of getting some frost. in the east, an early touch of frost, but with increasing cloud, temperatures will recover as the night goes on. this

week whether fund will move its way westwards tomorrow, eventually clipping parts of northern ireland and west midlands. many other places will be dry, with sunny spells. quite a brisk wind. and that wind will probably mean this part of the uk feels the coldest during tuesday, even though for some, temperatures and mckinnon across much of the uk, as will be struggling. if you do have some sunshine, of course that helps. low pressure will pull away going into wednesday, and then we start looking back to the atlantic for the next approaching weather system. another chilly start on wednesday, with frost in places. the rain will be rather patchy in

nature. the rain does not really get to the eastern side of the uk. the switch of the wind direction to a south—westerly will help temperatures, particularly in england and wales. but our weather will turn more active later in the week. rain in parts of eastern england on thursday and in western parts on friday, with a strengthening windows low pressure comes back in. this is bbc news. i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 11pm: the chancellor uses his last budget before brexit to say the era of austerity is coming to an end. philip hammond calls it a budget for britain's future as he announces more money for universal credit, social care, the nhs and schools. ican i can report to the british people

that their hard work is paying off and the era of austerity is finally coming to an end. the reality is that whatever the chancellor claims today, austerity is not over. and for 32 million people, there will be less income tax payable, with a rise in personal allowances a year earlier than planned. we'll have details and analysis, and we'll be asking if this really does herald the end of austerity.