"It is not wrong to convene experts to test and project the figures which governments come up with, but it is wrong for political leaders to outsource their decisions to them"
Telegraph: 28th March 2025: Respected journalist Charles Moore argues that rule by bureacracy has gone too far and highlights the consequences of politicians outsourcing decision-making to bureaucrats
"In ancient Rome, the state services of haruspices were much in demand. By inspecting the entrails of birds and animals... these priestly officials divined whether the gods would look favourably on any important future action... Twenty-first century British governments have the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
...It is not wrong, of course, to convene experts to test and project the figures which governments come up with, but it is wrong for political leaders to outsource their decisions to them. This may not have been the intention, but it is the effect...
But such “independence” is problematic... political power shifts, over time, to these “independent” bodies. The public is encouraged to think they are more honest than politicians. The politicians therefore seek their approval. In response, the bodies tend to behave more politically (though not usually party-politically). They get too big for their boots...
The eternal Climate Change Committee, for example, tries to lay down the law about how we should get to net zero. The Supreme Court, which Tony Blair invented, decided... that it could tell prime ministers not to prorogue Parliament... There are dozens of such bodies nowadays. Their cumulative effect is to make Britain governed more by a permanent bureaucracy than by a parliamentary democracy...
In a properly run government, the departments themselves, and ultimately the Cabinet, should be responsible. That very name – Office for Budget Responsibility – implies that the Treasury, which creates the budget, does not do so responsibly. What is the Treasury for, then?..."