Hammond accused of saying there are ‘no unemployed people’

In recent years the Sunday before a Budget has given the chancellor a day to visit TV studios giving gentle hints about who is about to benefit from his generosity with our money. Instead, Philip Hammond found himself today accused of denying that there are any unemployed people. To be fair to him, he didn’t quite say that. Or at least he perhaps didn’t mean to say that, but he has given his critics the chance to paint him as out of touch.