The Treasury should stop paying attention to the OBR

A year ago Liz Truss’ brief government collapsed when markets lost confidence in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget. A large part of the problem, it was explained at the time, was that the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) – founded by George Osborne specifically to provide some independent backing for Budget measures – had not been invited to give its views.   

But how much use would a judgement by the OBR have been in any case? Let no one say that the organisation has no insight into its own failures. Today...