Treasury Lies and a Financial Black Hole

There is some debate about the state of British public finances.

The incoming Labour government has emphasised Tory mismanagement and overspending to justify difficult budget decisions. Meanwhile, Conservatives have suggested that things are nowhere near as bad as Labour is making them seem and are using it as an excuse to tax various sections of the population.

The truth probably hews closer to Labour’s accusations, but the lack of clarity when it comes to something so important is cause for concern.

Now it appears that a great part of this obfuscation may have come about from Treasury officials deliberately misleading the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) following the Conservative budget in March of this year.

Indeed, civil servants appear to have kept £9.5 billion worth of spending commitments under wraps so that the OBR's forecast appeared much more favourable than it should have been.

This is much more than just politicking in the run-up to a general election and may actually be a breach of the law.

At this point the question becomes: who should be held accountable; civil servants or ministers?