Labour is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the OBR as the reality sets in that no anount of forecasting can solve Britain’s spending problems, says Paul Ormerod

How fashions change! Less than a year ago, Labour politicians were falling over themselves to praise the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Labour was elected on a promise of “change”. And one of the things they were going to change was to ensure that the financial markets would never take fright under Labour as they did when Liz Truss was Prime Minister.

We can observe that at present the yield on 10-year UK government bonds, a key indicator of confidence, is slightly higher than it was under the short-lived leadership of Truss.

This usefully illustrates the old military adage “no battle plan survives first contact with the main force of the enemy”.

But Labour’s hopes were high, and none more so than those of the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

What happened to the £22bn black hole?

In early August last year, for........

© City A.M.