UK's Hammond says budget options constrained by high debt

By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's first budget plan since the Brexit vote will not include a big new spending push because of "eye-wateringly" high public debt levels, but will have some help for the economy and struggling families, the country's finance minister said. Philip Hammond, who will spell out the economic priorities of the new government on Wednesday, said on Sunday he wanted to keep some fiscal "head-room" as two years of difficult negotiations about leaving the European Union approach. "But then we will have a whole raft of opportunities and we need to get the country ready to be able to seize those." Britain's economy has so far defied forecasts of an immediate Brexit recession made by Hammond's predecessor George Osborne, reducing the urgency for a major fiscal stimulus.

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