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Does the OBR really run Britain?

October 31
45 mins

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Episode Description

With the Autumn Budget looming, this week The Rundown takes a look at one of the key players in shaping the government’s fiscal policy, but one that we know little about. 


The forecast on the future health of the British economy delivered to Rachel Reeves by the Office for Budget Responsibility will have more impact on shaping what the Chancellor announces next month than almost anything else, but who are the unelected panjandrums who sit on the independent body known as the OBR, how reliable are their economic estimations, and why do they hold so much sway over the Treasury?


Joining host Alain Tolhurst to discuss whether the OBR really runs Britain, and if it needs reform, or perhaps abolition all together as some have suggested, is the Conservative former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and Ben Zaranko, associate director at the think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Jeevun Sandher, a Labour MP and former member of the Treasury Select Committee.


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Presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

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