Jeremy Hunt attempts to block OBR report on £22bn ‘fiscal hole’

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Jeremy Hunt, shadow chancellor, has made a last-minute attempt to block a politically explosive official report covering his time as chancellor from being published on Budget day.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility is planning to publish on Wednesday a detailed breakdown of the alleged £22bn “fiscal hole” bequeathed by Hunt to Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves.

But Hunt has written to cabinet secretary Simon Case arguing that the report will be used as “a political weapon”, asking him to “review whether you still feel it is acceptable for the OBR to publish this review on Budget day”.

The OBR has been carrying out a review into whether the Treasury concealed information while it was conducting its official forecasts ahead of Hunt’s last Budget in March.

Hunt said that Reeves, who claimed to have unearthed a “£22bn fiscal black hole” of unfunded commitments, had been shown the OBR’s report but it had not been shared with the previous Tory government.

He wrote: “I hope you would agree that straying into political territory and failing to follow due process like this demeans it [the OBR] and also is deeply problematic for perceptions of the impartiality of the civil service.”

Government officials say they expect the OBR to validate at least some of Reeves’ claims that key information about spending commitments was concealed by the Treasury from its official forecasters.

Such a verdict is likely to be highly contentious and is expected to be used by Reeves to defend her plans to levy about £35bn of higher taxes to fill in the current “fiscal hole” and to increase public spending in future.

Hunt asked Case to say whether he advised the OBR that it was acceptable to publish the report on Budget day and whether he agreed that the report had “no content that can be used politically to attempt to discredit the previous administration”.

He also asked Case, who is stepping down from his role in early 2025, whether he had advised the OBR that ministers in the previous government should not be given a chance to comment on the report.

In July Richard Hughes, OBR chair, said he was concerned at what appeared to be “one of the largest year-ahead overspends” against current budget forecasts outside of the pandemic years.

He said that “given the seriousness of this issue” he had initiated a review of the preparation of the OBR’s forecasts ahead of Hunt’s Budget.

The Cabinet Office said Case had received the letter and would respond in due course. Government insiders said the OBR was an independent body and that no further action by the Cabinet Office was expected.