Hammond was speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos after Prime Minister Theresa May took to the podium yesterday.
The UK would ‘reinvent’ itself if the European markets stopped trading with Britain, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said.
Hammond was speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos after Prime Minister Theresa May took to the podium yesterday.
He said: "Our first duty as an elected government is to protect the living standards of our people and that means the competitiveness of our economy.
“If we were to be, by some catastrophe, closed off from those [European] markets we would have to reinvent ourselves we would have to find another model, another way to earn our living, to remain competitive in the world.
"And I just want to send out a clear message that we've reinvented ourselves before... we will do so if we have to."
Hammond added that some UK businesses have held off investment as they wait “for the fog of Brexit to clear”.
However he noted that the weaker pound has made the UK more attractive for overseas investment.
