CITY VIEWS: WHAT did you make OF THE OFFICE for BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY’S REPORT TODAY?
KAREN HEFFER | 85 DESIGN AGENCY
“The Treasury didn’t necessarily get the figures wrong. Maybe there was a bit of creativity with the figures, in advance of the election. It didn’t matter to them because they weren’t going to be around to mop up the mess. But these figures are too important to be used politically.”
JOHN WILKES | ANGLO SUISSE CAPITAL
“It shocked me that the Treasury got it so wrong, but it’s not surprising. I could foresee the government having different figures, but the Treasury is supposed to be independent. It’s possibly a sign that the Bank of England needs to be dealing with more of this sort of thing.”
RICHARD EVELEIGH | CHUBB INSURANCE
“I think it shows that we need an organisation like the OBR. It’s bad news today, but it’s encouraging that someone is looking again at the figures. Darling overplayed the forecasts for electoral reasons, and that shouldn’t have happened. It makes sense to have a separate body.”