The government’s new tax and spending watchdog was plunged into fresh controversy last night after it was revealed that the Office for Budget Responsibility slashed its forecasts for expected job losses from George Osborne’s austerity package in the days leading up to last month’s budget.

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A Treasury spokesman denied last night that any pressure had been put on the OBR to make its forecasts for job losses more politically acceptable to the coalition government. “The OBR themselves made some methodological changes between the pre-budget report and the budget. The Treasury did not put any pressure on the OBR to make the employment forecasts more favourable to the government.” Larry Elliott, The Guardian.

The Office for Budget Responsibility should be renamed the Office for Budget Irresponsibility – not a watchdog but a Com-Dem lapdog.