U.K. setting aside US$3.97B for Brexit preparations: British finance minister
An anti-Brexit, pro-European Union campaigner holds a Union flag, near Parliament in London, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Britain's Treasury chief has little room to maneuver Wednesday as he reveals his spending plans to a nation bracing for the shock of Brexit. While Philip Hammond is promising to tackle a bleak economic outlook "head on," a slowing economy and stubborn deficit mean there is little money available to increase spending in the face of demands from teachers, firefighters, the National Health Service and the military.
, The Associated Press/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Sarah Young and Estelle Shirbon, Reuters
LONDON — The British government is setting aside three billion pounds (US$3.97 billion) for Brexit preparations in addition to funds allocated previously, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday during his budget speech to parliament.
"We have already invested almost 700 million pounds in Brexit preparations ... and today I am setting aside over the next two years another three billion," he said.