OBR Chairman Attacks Reeves and Starmer for Blaming Political Chaos on Watchdog – Guido Fawkes

OBR Chairman Attacks Reeves and Starmer for Blaming Political Chaos on Watchdog

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Things are hotting up in the Downing Street vs OBR skirmish as the watchdog’s chairman hits back at Labour briefings today. A showdown coming down the track…

Chairman Richard Hughes told the Commons Treasury Committee:

“I don’t really accept the characterisation that it was changes in our forecast that forced the Government to make any particular sort of policy decision. Back in March, the Government decided to make £5 billion worth of welfare savings. They had £10 billion worth of headroom against their fiscal rule. They could have settled for five.”

Hughes added that the decision and its reversal were “an entirely political choice.” It’s not the OBR who makes the fiscal rules…

That slaps back at Reeves who said that she was forced to make the welfare cuts thanks to her ‘iron-clad’ fiscal rules before reversing them entirely anyway. Cueing tax rises at the October Omnishambles budget…

Hughes also countered Starmer’s April attack at the Liaison Committee in which the PM complained that the OBR didn’t cost Labour employment support plans:

“There were no specifics. They couldn’t tell us who was going to benefit from this programme, which groups, what kind of support they were going to get. There was no policy for us to score in our forecast.”

Starmer has let it be known that he is increasingly impatient with the watchdog. It was his and Reeves’ decision to empower it massively as soon as they were elected…