Head of government’s financial watchdog issues stinging rebuke of its economic plan
The Tories’ 2017 election mantra just received another kicking.
Office for Budget Responsibility
Can David Cameron really create another two million jobs?
No one should imagine it will be easy to achieve
Alex Salmond’s oil dream goes bust
Alex Salmond’s dream of an independent Scotland based on North Sea oil revenue to keep it afloat was dealt a fresh blow last night as new research by the Office for Budget Responsibility showed the extent of decline in revenue from North Sea oil taxes.
OBR report shows extent of lost economic potential
Of all the decisions the chancellor has made, the one he may be regret the most is making the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) independent.
“In the black Labour” nails its colours to the OBR – the OBR that keeps on getting it wrong
The Into the Black Labour crowd have nailed their colours to the OBR just as it – and George Osborne – lose credibility. What gives?
Whatever Osborne’s growth forecasts today, the reality is probably worse
Today’s growth and borrowing forecasts are likely to be grim – they are just as likely to be over optimistic.
The OBR, personal debt and the living standards gap
The Resolution Foundation’s Gavin Kelly and Matthew Whittaker look at whether squeezed households will really borrow more to prop up living standards.
OBR inflation figures mean budget cuts for health and schools
New inflation estimates by the OBR mean that the NHS and schools budget will fall in real terms over the spending review period. The Government had promised promised a 0.4 per cent increase in NHS funding.
OBR: Recovery “at a slower pace” than in the 70s, 80s and 90s
Tomorrow’s papers will probably note the forecast that, by 2015, public sector employment will fall by 330,000, one hundred and sixty thousand less than the 490,000 forecast in June. 30,000 of the difference is down to “methodological refinements”. The remaining 130,000 reduction is because the Spending Review cut more from social security and less from Departmental budgets than OBR expected – a different balance of misery, rather than a genuine improvement.