The Treasury’s medium-term fiscal plan is pushed back from Halloween to Nov. 17 and it’s upgraded to a full autumn statement, Downing Street said on Thursday, one day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the job.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said it’s “prudent” to delay the announcement to allow time for more accurate economic forecasts.
After the government’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning, a Downing Street readout said Sunak and Hunt had “agreed that the fiscal event would now take place on Nov. 17, and would be an Autumn Statement,” which will “set out how we will put public finances on a sustainable footing and get debt falling in the medium term and will be accompanied by a full forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR].”
Hunt confirmed the decision, telling broadcasters it’s “extremely important that that statement is based on the most accurate possible economic forecasts and forecasts of public finances.”
Hunt said the OBR wants to “make sure that their forecasts are the most accurate possible and there have been a lot of changes even in the last 48 hours.”
He defended the delay, arguing it was the best way to ensure the decisions taken in the autumn statement will “stand the test of time and give us the best chance of giving people security over the mortgages, over their jobs, over the cost-of-living concerns that everyone has.”
The new date is two weeks after the Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) next meeting over interest rates, scheduled on Nov. 3.
Hunt said he had discussed the move with Bailey on Tuesday night, and that Bailey “understands the reasons for doing that and I’ll continue to work very closely with him.”
Former chancellor Sajid Javid welcomed the delay of the fiscal statement, saying the decision is “sensible.”
The Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said it “risks leaving mortgage borrowers, pensioners, and struggling families under a damaging cloud of uncertainty.”
