Theresa May interrupts Philip Hammond's Budget to remind him it's International Women's Day
The Chancellor also injected some humour into the Budget
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Your support makes all the difference.Prime Minister Theresa May interrupted Philip Hammond's first Budget statement to remind him it is International Women's Day.
As the Chancellor joked Ms May had already revealed several of his announcements before his speech, Mr Hammond said: "And I am delighted to use the occasion of International Women's Day to announce three additional measures, well not quite announce them because my Right Honourable friend the Prime Minister has already announced two of them."
Ms May interrupted him to joke: "It's International Women's Day."
Several Conservative ministers and backbenchers laughed at her remark.
Mr Hammond continued: "It says here I will commit a further £20m of Government funding to support the campaign against violence against women and girls, which does, as my Right Honourable friend said earlier, take the Government's commitment to this campaign to over £100m in this Parliament.
"That is on top of the tampon tax which today delivers another £12m in support of women's charities across the United Kingdom."
The Chancellor also used his speech to crack a joke about International Women's Day.
“I’m pleased to report on International Women’s Day that there is now a higher proportion of women in the workforce than ever before," he said, "and I’m even more pleased to report that since February 23rd [date of the Copeland by-election] there’s a higher proportion of women in work in the parliamentary Conservative party.”
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