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3mo ago

OBR Official Backs Reeves as Budget Messaging Faces Intensified Scrutiny

An OBR committee member told MPs the fiscal position was “very challenging,” bolstering the chancellor’s defence that fiscal headroom was wafer thin.

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, holds up the traditional red ministerial budget box outside No. 11 Downing Street before departing to the House of Commons to deliver the budget.
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Overview

  • Professor David Miles told the Treasury Committee he did not view Rachel Reeves’s pre‑Budget warnings as misleading and said difficult choices were consistent with the OBR’s assessment.
  • The OBR had informed the Treasury by October 31 that productivity losses were offset by stronger wages and inflation, leaving roughly £4.2bn of headroom under the chancellor’s rules.
  • Keir Starmer insisted there was no misleading by the chancellor and noted ministers considered, then ruled out, breaching the manifesto with an income tax rate rise.
  • OBR chair Richard Hughes resigned after the watchdog mistakenly published market‑sensitive Budget analysis early, prompting a review of its publication processes.
  • Opposition parties pressed for FCA and ministerial‑code investigations as they challenge the Treasury’s pre‑Budget briefings, while scrutiny continues through Commons committee hearings.