Sajid Javid to hold post-Brexit budget on March 11th

Boris Johnson and chancellor Sajid Javid with other members of the cabinet at Conservative Campaign Headquarters Call Centre. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

Sajid Javid will hold a post-Brexit budget on March 11th – claiming that the UK will take advantage of ‘huge opportunities’ once the country has left the EU.

The government is set to increase borrowing in order to fund promises made in the Tory election manifesto, with Javid saying “the country voted for change” by backing Boris Johnson at the ballot box in December.

Promising an “infrastructure revolution” in his first budget as chancellor, Javid indicated there would be up to £100 billion available for “transformative” projects across the country over the coming years.

“With this Budget we will unleash Britain’s potential – uniting our great country, opening a new chapter for our economy and ushering in a decade of renewal,” Javid said.

He had been due to deliver a budget in November but that was cancelled after Brexit was delayed and Johnson decided to go to the polls.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell warned Javid’s budget was undeliverable with a no-deal Brexit still on the table.

He said: “After a decade of wrecking the economy, we can have no confidence in a Tory government delivering the scale of investment needed for renewal especially with a no-deal Brexit still on the table.

“The lack of foresight in not focusing this budget on the threat of climate change is also criminally irresponsible.

“The government has learnt nothing from the fires in Australia and the floods on Indonesia.

“This will be a budget of climate change recklessness not renewal.”