As speculation mounts toward a "hard" Brexit UK fin min Hammond has been speaking to Welt am Sonntag 15 Jan

  • UK govt will not "lie down"

The responses were to the question of whether the UK could become a "tax haven" by further lowering corporation tax.

Hammond said he was "optimistic" a reciprocal deal on market access could be struck, and that he hoped the UK would:

"..remain in the mainstream of European economic and social thinking".

"But if we are forced to be something different, then we will have to become something different,"

"If we have no access to the European market, if we are closed off, if Britain were to leave the European Union without an agreement on market access, then we could suffer from economic damage at least in the short-term.

"In this case, we could be forced to change our economic model and we will have to change our model to regain competitiveness. And you can be sure we will do whatever we have to do.

"The British people are not going to lie down and say, too bad, we've been wounded. We will change our model, and we will come back, and we will be competitively engaged."

Full Welt am Sonntag interview here

Elsewhere Brexit Sec David Davis has said the UK govt needs to persuade the EU that a "strong new partnership" with the UK would allow the EU to prosper.He admitted agreeing new terms would be "testing" and suggested there might be a transitional arrangement to ensure Britain's exit was a smooth process.

Hammond and Davis seem to be saying nothing that lends itself to contradict reports of PM May's less than conciliatory tones expected on Tuesday.

Enjoy the rest of your w-e everyone, and prepare for another lively week ahead both for the pound and all markets.

UK's Hammond - "We will do whatever it takes"