Hammond warns City of London's EU rivals Brexit is 'not a zero sum game'

The Chancellor has warned the City of London (LSE: CIN.L - news) 's European rivals that they will not automatically benefit from a Brexit deal that excludes financial services.

Philip Hammond said it was in the interests of both Britain and the European Union for the sector to be part of the settlement.

He was speaking after European Council president Donald Tusk unveiled negotiating guidelines for the post-Brexit relationship.

The document warned there can be "no cherry-picking" of particular sectors, like financial services, participating in the EU's single market.

But Mr Hammond warned the "real beneficiaries" of any loss of market share in London would not be financial centres on the continent, but the likes of New York, Singapore and Hong Kong.

In a keynote Brexit speech at the HSBC building in London's Docklands, Mr Hammond said: "I want to challenge the assertion that financial services can't be part of a free trade agreement, to set out why it is in the interests of both the UK and the EU27 to ensure that EU businesses and citizens can continue to access the UK financial services hub.

"This is not a zero-sum game where any loss of market share in London is automatically a gain to another EU capital."

Describing the City of London as a "European asset", Mr Hammond claimed any trade deal which undermined it would backfire on the EU.

He said: "Those who think that the major winners for any fragmentation of London's markets would be Paris or Frankfurt, Dublin or Luxembourg should take note.

"The real beneficiaries are more likely to be New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong, cutting Europe's market share.

"And leaving Europe as a whole, less competitive and more reliant on distant financial centres, operating under very different rules."

Mr Hammond added: "A trade deal will only happen if it is fair and balances the interests of both sides.

"Given the shape of the British economy, and our trade balance with the EU27, it is hard to see how any deal that did not include services could look like a fair and balanced settlement."

Fleshing out his argument in more detail, the Chancellor said the existing equivalence regime through which third countries deal with the EU would be "wholly inadequate" given the scale of the UK's relationship with Brussels.

Mr Hammond said the principle of "mutual recognition and reciprocal regulatory equivalence" could be a good starting point, but stressed in order for it to work it would need to be objectively assessed with proper governance structures and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Josh Hardie, deputy director-general at the Confederation of British Industry, said: "Trying to forge a new trading relationship with our largest trading partner that does not include financial services is like building a ship with no sails."

However Labour MP Chris Leslie, a supporter of the pro-EU campaign group Open Britain, accused the Chancellor of failing to be honest.

He said: "The EU could hardly have been clearer this morning in rejecting the Government's cherry-picking approach of demanding all the privileges of single market membership but rejecting the responsibilities it brings.

"The Government misses every chance it has to be honest with the British people about the costs of Brexit."