Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments by Robert Chote, Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, in the New Statesman on 24 January, that “In terms of the net effect on GDP, the hits to demand [arising from the Brexit vote] have outweighed the boosts."

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is an independent fiscal institution. Robert Chote’s comments in the New Statesman relate to an OBR judgement set out in their November 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The Government adopts the OBR’s independent forecasts as the official forecasts for the UK and as such, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on its forecast judgements.