Sunak pours scorn on the OBR’s dire warnings – but the facts speak for themelves

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak should be used to grim economic forecasts. In his two years as chancellor, he’s been warned to brace for the worst jobs crisis since the 1980s, a recession without parallel for three centuries, and the biggest shock to the public finances since the second world war.

Not everything came to pass. Extending furlough – rather than ending it early as the chancellor planned – prevented unemployment from hitting levels unseen since the days of his political idol Nigel Lawson.

Nonetheless, the chancellor is said to have taken issue with the Office for Budget Responsibility for overshadowing his spring statement with dire economic forecasts. Anonymous sources told the Times that Sunak “absolutely viscerally hates the OBR”, saying the Treasury forecaster had made unidentified “normative policy judgements” – expressing an opinion about the way things ought to be, rather than impartially describing the outlook for the economy and public finances.

Sources close to Sunak have downplayed the leak, suggesting there is no truth to the anonymous briefing. Yet it would fit with a pattern. Leaks to another friendly newspaper suggested the chancellor was frustrated with the BBC. Far from the image of the smooth operator of his early months in the job, brand Sunak’s gloss appears to be wearing thin.

There are good reasons why the tide is turning. None of those are because impartial bodies are putting an ideological spin on things. Unfortunately for the chancellor, the facts speak for themselves.

The independent Treasury economics forecaster had told the public Britain was heading for the biggest annual fall in living standards since the mid-1950s, while Sunak was far from the tax cutter he proclaimed. His spring statement peroration