House of Commons – June 25, 2014 – 23

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the proposed words be there added. The House divided: Ayes 284, Noes 215. Amendment: I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to the end of the Question and add: “recognises the important role of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in producing independent forecasts for the economy and the public finances, and the value this has had in restoring trust in official forecasts;

notes that the OBR is a newly independent institution and judges that it would not be appropriate to involve it in party political matters at its first election;

notes the comments made by the Chairman of the OBR, Robert Chote, in a letter dated 15 January 2014 to the House of Commons Treasury Committee that ‘to embark on this exercise in a rush, or with insufficient resources, could be very disruptive to the parties and very damaging to the OBR’;

and supports the view expressed in that letter that it is ‘better to consider these issues at the beginning of the next Parliament’.”