Due an upgrade? What to expect in the Spring Statement

The Office for Budget Responsibility delivered the mother of all forecast downgrades in the Autumn Budget last November, revising borrowing up £91bn and annual pay down £1,000.

Four months on, and with the Treasury promising a quickfire Spring Statement, the focus will be on whether the latest OBR economic outlook makes more positive reading. Could promising recent data on pay and productivity, alongside robust growth across much of the globe, provide grounds for optimism, or should we be wary of another false dawn? What could OBR revisions mean for the country’s living standards and our politics, not least around Brexit?

At an event at its Westminster headquarters, the Resolution Foundation presented new analysis showing what a revised economic outlook could mean for pay, productivity, growth, borrowing and living standards. A panel of politicians and experts, including the Chancellor’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng MP and Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Yvette Cooper MP then set out their take on what economic head and tailwinds might have in store for the UK and what that might mean for policy makers.