Philip Hammond faces hot seat as bad news piles up

Chancellor goes before Treasury select committee with fading chance to hit budget targets and under pressure to ease off on austerity

Philip Hammond faces the Treasury select committee on Wednesday in his first appearance since June's general election. There will be plenty for the chancellor to talk about.

Reports suggest the Office for Budgetary Responsibility will downgrade its forecasts on Tuesday, making it harder for Hammond to hit his budget targets. The fiscal watchdog appears to have accepted that its estimates for productivity growth have been consistently over-optimistic. Productivity, or output per hour, stagnated in the three months to June, official figures showed on Friday.

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