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THE government will fail to hit its target of balancing the books by 2025, says fiscal watchdog the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) in a report published today.
Its conclusion, revealed just hours after Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement, removed the last vestige of credibility from the Tories’ 2017 manifesto pledge to eliminate the deficit by the middle of the next decade.
Predicting that this objective would be “missed,” the OBR blamed growing demands on the public purse from an ageing population, while acknowledging that this would be the case even as state pension ages continue to be pushed back.
The 2025 Budget shores up the PM’s political position with headline-grabbing welfare U-turns, but with no improvements on offer to declining public services or living standards, writes MICHAEL BURKE
Under current policy, welfare cuts are just a small downpayment on future austerity, argues MICHAEL BURKE