The OBR and the unintended economic consequences of Mr Osborne

The creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was heralded as a major change in UK economic governance, purporting to offer objective analysis insulated from partisan politics. In the tumultuous years since the OBR’s foundation, however, its neutrality has been disputed by critics of diverse political persuasions. Ben Clift’s new book, The Office for Budget Responsibility and the Politics of Technocratic Economic Governance, offers a nuanced evaluation of these criticisms, illuminating the subtle ways in which the OBR favours certain policy choices over others. Building on Clift’s work, this symposium article considers whether the OBR is inherently biased towards austerity and fiscal conservatism, or whether OBR scrutiny is compatible with more radical changes in the UK’s political economy.