Number crushing: economists give Hammond's budget the big thumbs down | John Crace

In a dark room in central London, the Institute for Fiscal Studies pores over the figures behind Wednesday's budget and finds little actually there

Call it the revenge of the geeks. On every other day of the year, politicians feel free to play fast and loose with the figures. Anything to massage them towards their own ends. But having stayed up all night going through Treasury forecasts, the day after the budget belongs to the experts. This is when they get to have their say on the government's competency, and the chancellor can do little but sit back and suck it up.

Philip Hammond is quite happy to kick back his heels and listen to MPs from all parties delivering their verdicts in the Commons in the post-budget debate, as he knows that almost all of them are totally innumerate. So even if one of them does happen upon an accounting error there's a fair chance no one will know if it's accurate or not. But a big thumbs down from the nerds can be career ending. And there's no one the chancellor fears more than the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent thinktank that has a far better track record of getting things right than anyone in the Treasury.