OBR accused of 'political intervention' by ex-chancellor Hunt over spending review

Amid fiscal hole criticism

Sorin Dojan
clock • 2 min read

Former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt has accused the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) of not allowing him to explain how the Treasury prepared its departmental expenditure limits as part of the March 2024 Budget.

In a letter addressed to the OBR on Friday (25 October) and published today (28 October), Hunt stated he was "not informed in advance" of the contents of the spending review despite it covering his time in office as chancellor. "In your letter to the Treasury Select Committee announcing the review on the 29 July, you stated that the review would cover ‘the adequacy of the information and assurances provided to the OBR by the Treasury regarding departmental spending,'" Hunt wrote in the letter. "As this covers my time as chancellor, as a matter of procedural fairness I would have expec...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on UK

ONS: 'Do not think we are being complacent' on Transformed Labour Force Survey
UK

ONS: 'Do not think we are being complacent' on Transformed Labour Force Survey

Treasury Committee hearing

Linus Uhlig
clock 04 February 2025 • 3 min read
MPs to scrutinise use of AI in financial services following DeepSeek launch
UK

MPs to scrutinise use of AI in financial services following DeepSeek launch

Call for evidence now open

Eve Maddock-Jones
clock 04 February 2025 • 3 min read
Shop price deflation hits 0.7% in January as prices are expected to rise
UK

Shop price deflation hits 0.7% in January as prices are expected to rise

Major discounts for non-food products

Sorin Dojan
clock 28 January 2025 • 1 min read
Trustpilot