Britain is 'open for business', says new chancellor Philip Hammond

New Chancellor Philip Hammond insisted Britain would not be turning its back on the rest world and would remain open for business, even though investment has been affected by the Brexit vote.

In his first day in his new job since being appointed as George Osborne's replacement by new Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday night (13 July), Hammond indicated the "number one challenge" would be to stabilise the economy and reassure the markets.

"Britain is open for business," he said.

"We are not turning our back on the world. We are determined to maintain our outward-looking stance and we are determined to maintain the prosperity of our people and keep on growing the economy and creating jobs in the future, and that's the message I want to get out there today.

"We will do whatever we need to do to restore that confidence and to keep Britain as an attractive destination for businesses to invest and create jobs."

Hammond added Britain will leave the single market but that it was vital to ensure the UK brokered a deal with its European counterparts.

"We will come out of the single market as a result of our decision to leave the European Union," he told LBC.

"I would like to see us negotiating access to the single market for Britain's businesses, so we can go on selling our goods and services into the European Union market and indeed enjoying the benefits of consuming European Union goods and services here as we do now."

Hammond, who also ruled out a post-Brexit emergency budget, admitted the pro-Brexit vote had sapped confidence among investors and rattled the markets .

"I think we have to distinguish the short-term from the medium and longer term," he told BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"In the short-term, the decision to exit the European Union came as a surprise to the markets, a surprise [...] to business, and therefore it has rattled confidence, it has caused people to put plans on hold while they wait to see how things clarify."

However, the new chancellor, who campaigned in favour of remaining in the EU ahead of last month's referendum, indicated May's swift appointment and the cabinet reshuffled that followed would help restore confidence.

"The fact that we've moved quickly to resolve the situation of the leadership of the Conservative Party and get a new Prime Minister installed I think will help to restore business and consumer confidence," he said.

"What we've got to do now is show as a team how we're going to take this negotiation with the European Union forward, how we're going to stabilise and support the economy through the coming months in order to help that confidence to be restored as quickly as possible."

Hammond also refused to set a timetable for reducing the deficit, explaining that while the approach taken in 2010 by his predecessor was the right one at the time, Britain is in an "immeasurably stronger" position than it was then and the economy is likely to change because of the Brexit vote.