What does the pledge mean? 

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was established by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in May 2010. It is an independent government body that provides analysis of the UK’s public finances.

Notably, the OBR usually provides forecasts twice a year to accompany the Budget Statement (typically in the Autumn) and the Spring Statement. These forecasts analyse the impact of tax and spending measures set out by the government at these ‘fiscal events’.

The Charter for Budget Responsibility currently sets out that the chancellor must formally commission a forecast at least twice a year, one being for the Budget. The chancellor is expected to give the OBR at least ten weeks’ notice of such a fiscal event, unless in exceptional circumstances. 

Labour’s manifesto proposed that the government be required to commission a report from the OBR ahead of “every fiscal event making significant changes to taxation or spending”.

What progress has been made?

This pledge has been achieved.

The Budget Responsibility Act was passed by Parliament on 10 September 2024. It provides that: “If a Minister of the Crown is proposing to make a fiscal announcement to the House of Commons in respect of—

1. a measure which is fiscally significant, or
2. two or more measures where any combination of the measures is fiscally significant,

the Treasury must, before the announcement, request the [OBR] to prepare a [...] report that takes account of the measure or measures.”

The Act also permits the OBR to prepare a report on a measure (or a combination of measures) it considers “fiscally significant”, even if it has not been requested to do so by the government.

These changes are also set out in the government’s draft Charter for Budget Responsibility. This further specifies the definition of “fiscally significant” as measures which cost the equivalent of at least 1% of GDP in any financial year.