Jeremy Hunt warns UK’s economic watchdog it will do irreparable damage to its reputation if it backs Labour’s controversial claim that he left behind a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances_Nhy
Jeremy Hunt has warned Britain’s economic watchdog it will do irreparable damage to its reputation if it backs Labour‘s controversial claim that he left behind a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances.
Government sources yesterday confirmed that Rachel Reeves plans to publish a study by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) alongside the Budget on Wednesday in a bid to pin the blame for tax rises on the last government.
Ms Reeves first claimed the existence of a £22 billion ‘black hole’ shortly after entering office in July, but the Treasury has so far been unable to produce a detailed breakdown.
Almost half the sum (£9.5 billion) is accounted for by her own decision to hand inflation-busting pay rises to millions of public sector workers.
Jeremy Hunt (pictured at the Conservative Party Conference) has warned Britain’s economic watchdog it will do irreparable damage to its reputation if it backs Labour ‘s controversial claim that he left behind a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances
Rachel Reeves (pictured) first claimed the existence of a £22 billion ‘black hole’ shortly after entering office in July
Ms Reeves asked the OBR to review the claim. But Mr Hunt last night said he had had no contact from the watchdog, despite the Chancellor’s claim that he hid the truth from parliament.
In a letter to OBR chairman Richard Hughes, he said he was a ‘strong supporter’ of the need for an ‘independent fiscal watchdog’.
But he added: ‘I do not believe publishing a review with criticisms of the main opposition party on the day of a Budget is consistent with political impartiality.
Nor is doing so without asking for views on its contents from the people with whom political responsibility lay at the time. Proceeding in this way would cross a line which would be impossible to defend as anything other than a political intervention.’
Pictured: Chair of the OBR, Office For Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, Member of the Budget Responsibility Committee, Andy King and Prof. David Miles CBE
A Tory source said it was ‘a disgrace’ that the issue had not even been discussed with ministers who were serving at the time.
‘It’s deeply concerning and serious to see the OBR acting in what is an overtly political way, directly undermining their independence as part of a shameless Labour ploy to justify tax rises they planned all along,’ the source said. ‘This political stunt breaks every precedent in the book.’
