Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts Debate
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Barry Gardiner
Main Page: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)Department Debates - View all Barry Gardiner's debates with the HM Treasury
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
Barry Gardiner Excerpts(1 day, 6 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
James Murray
The right hon. Gentleman is a former Treasury Minister, so he will know the importance of the OBR’s productivity downgrade and the impact that that has had on the forecasts. He will know that £16 billion is a significant downgrade to have had as a result of that productivity review, and he will know that were I here defending a Budget with just a few billion pounds of headroom, that would not be a position that any of us would want to be in.
Barry Gardiner (Brent West) (Lab)
The Chief Secretary quoted the OBR review, which said:
“The ultimate responsibility for the circumstances in which this vulnerability occurred”
was
“with the leadership of the OBR.”
Has anyone in the OBR leadership offered their resignation, or has that gone out of fashion?
James Murray
That is a matter for the leadership of the OBR. Let me emphasise how important the OBR is as an institution for this Government in providing a robust and transparent fiscal framework that underpins the stability we have returned to the economy.