Hunt claims budget watchdog will ‘twist impartiality’ to help case for Labor tax hike

A row has erupted between Britain’s financial watchdog and former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over a review of the so-called £22bn “black hole” in public finances which Labor claims it inherited.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to raise several taxes in her budget on Wednesday to cover the claimed shortfall.

But Hunt says a report to be released on the same day by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which is independent of the government, will criticize his party and help make the case for Labour’s tax rises.

OBR boss Richard Hughes, defended the decision to publish the report on Budget day, and told Hunt that it would not include “ministerial decisions”.

Labor is preparing for its biggest week since being elected in July, as Reeves presents the party’s first budget in almost 15 years.

The OBR will publish its assessment of the Chancellor’s economic policies and also release a forecast of their impact on the UK economy over the next five years.

But it is also preparing to release an additional report launched earlier this year It was granted “sufficiency of information” by the previous Tory government.

Hunt, a supporter of the OBR, consults it to provide credibility to his own spending plans, but he has expressed anger at the watchdog over plans to release a review of the assurances provided during his tenure at the Treasury.

Hunt said on Friday that the planned publication date was a “significant concern” and would be seen as “political interference”.

“I do not believe that publishing a review with criticisms of the main opposition party on Budget day is consistent with political impartiality,” he said. Said in a letter.

The former chancellor said he was concerned that the timing had been done in such a way that the budget tax increase was due to a reduction in spending forecasts, which were not communicated to the OBR at the time.

Last week, Reeves said a claimed £22 billion “hole” in the public finances was one of the reasons for the tax rise and said the OBR would publish its review into “how this was allowed to happen”. Treasury sees this as an important sub-plot to the main Budget narrative.

Hunt also took aim at the OBR for not asking for his opinion, or allowing him to see the report before publication.

On Sunday, the OBR responded to the former chancellor, saying the review was about institutional relationships with the Treasury, not the conduct or decisions of ministers.

It also said that following Cabinet Office advice and concerns about market sensitivity, it was not “necessary or appropriate” to provide Hunt with an upgraded vision.

The OBR works closely with the Treasury, and its decision on whether the Chancellor’s plans are right is important to financial investors and to Reeves, who has said she wants to borrow money to invest in big infrastructure projects. .

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng rejected the OBR forecast offer ahead of their mini-budget two years ago, which led to the UK economy going into turmoil.