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UK Treasury committee rejects calls to overhaul OBR forecasts
MPs said the OBR should not be blamed for tough fiscal decisions, while considering whether it should produce a 10-year forecast alongside its existing timelines.
UK lawmakers on the Treasury committee have pushed back against calls to fundamentally reform the Office for Budget Responsibility, arguing critics are effectively “shooting the messenger,” according to the Guardian Business.
The committee said the OBR should not be blamed when ministers face difficult choices due to tight public finances, and it rejected “siren calls” for major changes to the independent watchdog.
Still, MPs said they are persuaded ministers should consider instructing the OBR to adopt a 10-year economic forecast to complement the five-year and 50-year forecasts it already publishes, the outlet reported.
The committee also urged Parliament to set aside time to debate the OBR’s annual fiscal risks and sustainability report, which outlines threats to the stability of public finances over the next 50 years, and it cited the role of the OBR’s forecasts in periods when government spending runs on narrow margins, the Guardian said.