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Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [Lords]

In this debate on the Bill and the Office for Budget Responsibility, I would like to focus on the word ““responsibility””. Interestingly, Members in other parts of the House have focused on the downgrading of the growth forecast from 2.6%, to 2.3%, to 2.1% and possibly lower, but at no point has it been said that this allows the Chancellor to ensure that we have a Budget that is based on facts rather than on what he would like the growth figures to be. That is the problem of previous years that led to a bunker scenario.