The OBR and the neo-liberal paradox

One of the issues raised by Ben Clift’s book on the OBR is the paradox in UK neo-liberal thinking since Brexit. This is created by the attempt to reconcile their support for a transnational, technocratic, depoliticised rules-based order with the exercise of national sovereignty to take back control. In this contribution to the symposium I will explore some of the ways these tensions appear in recent Conservative thinking. These tensions relate to unhappiness about the established institutions of economic governance. These have grown in recent years and particularly since Brexit, culminating in the Truss Government’s attempt to sideline the OBR, the Treasury, and the Bank of England in formulating its economic policy.