"The OBR was established by George Osborne with the intention that politicians should not be able to “mark their own homework”. But if we dig into this metaphor a little more deeply, it exposes how Britain is morphing from a democracy into a quangocracy."
ConservativeHome: 9th April 2025: Mark Littlewood responds to Henry Hill's article about the OBR.
"Never discuss process. Only discuss outcomes. That was the first key rule of political communications which I was taught about three decades ago.
The idea is that you want to tell the public about what you are doing and where you are going. You don’t bore them to death with detailed cartographical information about how you decided upon and planned your journey. Voters aren’t interested in algorithms; they are interested in impacts.
In the area of fiscal policy, this should mean that the battlelines are pretty clear. Some will argue for tax reductions to improve living standards and stimulate growth. Others will defend a high tax burden as a necessity to secure decent public services. Opinions will similarly vary about what circumstances necessitate borrowing and to what extent.
However, it is now nearly impossible to debate tax and spend policy without considering the process, not merely the impacts. This is principally due to the long shadow cast by the prognostications of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Henry Hill was right to point out in these pages that the OBR has influence rather than power. Politicians can choose to ignore the OBR’s advice or even refuse to seek it, as Liz Truss did in her 2022 mini-budget. There is nothing illegal or unconstitutional about taking such a course of action."