Lisa Wilkinson ‘devastated’ and ‘sorry’ over collapse of Wilko, as MPs hear ‘weak leadership’ to blame – as it happened
Business and Trade Committee hear apology from Wilko chair over retailer's collapse, while auditors defend their handling of Wilko's accounts
The OBR's chair Richard Hughes, economic adviser professor David Miles and Whitehall watcher Tom Josephs (a former senior Treasury and DWP civil servant) will be quizzed in Parliament this morning by MPs who sit on the Treasury committee.
Here are some questions they might ask, at the session which begins at 10.15am.
Why have you assessed the economy as much stronger than the Bank of England? The BoE's assessment of the underlying growth rate (used to determine how fast the UK can grow without triggering inflation) is below 1% and yours is above 1%. If you had used the BoE assessment, the chancellor would have seen his 25bn windfall wiped out.
Why do you believe the trade deals with Australia and New Zealand and the Asian countries in the CTPP bloc will only reap 0.1% and 0.04% respectively in extra GDP, when leaving the single market costs as much as 4% of GDP.
Should you have said that at the end of the five year horizon the government will have a 13bn buffer when that includes the re-application of fuel duty, when we know - and you say in the report - that the government has scrapped the rise in fuel duty.
Our forecast again incorporates 6.2bn of extra revenue in 2028-29 from the Government's stated policy of increasing fuel duty rates in line with RPI inflation and the reversal of the temporary' 5p cut. If, like all Chancellors since 2011, rates are instead held at the current rate then more than 43% of the headroom in 2028-29 would be removed and debt would no longer be falling in 2027-28."
As we enter our new financial year, it is clear that there has been a weakening of discretionary consumer spending.
The business is well positioned to deal with this period, our established brands are market leading, we are competitively advantaged and we are confident that we will continue to take market share.
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