UK will not cut taxes below EU average

LONDON - The United Kingdom does not intend to lower taxes far below the European average in order to remain competitive after Brexit but rather expects to keep a recognizably European economic and social model, finance minister Philip Hammond said.

Hammond himself had suggested in January that Britain may have to change its economic model to remain competitive in the event that it left the European Union without having secured an agreement on market access.

Hammond, who had campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU ahead of last year's referendum, is seen as a proponent of a relatively "soft Brexit", sometimes putting him at odds with cabinet colleagues who yearn for a cleaner break with the bloc.