Treasury committee rejects calls for fundamental reform of independent watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility

Attacks on the government’s independent economic forecaster from left and right of the political spectrum are akin to “shooting the messenger”, according to an influential group of MPs.

The Treasury committee rejected “siren calls to fundamentally reform” the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and said it should not be blamed when policymakers had to make tough decisions because of tight public finances.