DiscoverThe CapitalistDespatch: All parties should be subjected to the OBR
Despatch: All parties should be subjected to the OBR

Despatch: All parties should be subjected to the OBR

Update: 2025-12-08
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What if every political party had to face real economic scrutiny? As Britain’s political landscape fragments and fiscal debate grows ever more chaotic, Joseph Dinnage, deputy editor of CapX, asks a provocative question: should the Office for Budget Responsibility judge all parties, not just the one in power? In this essay, he charts Rachel Reeves’s faltering economic credibility, the radicalism of the Greens and Your Party, and the inconsistencies on the Right — arguing that an upgraded OBR, modelled on the Dutch system, could bring much-needed discipline and transparency to a system swamped by unserious ideas. It wouldn’t make forecasting perfect, he says, but it would help voters see which plans add up — and which are pure fantasy.


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Despatch: All parties should be subjected to the OBR

Despatch: All parties should be subjected to the OBR