Treasury Select Committee to get power of veto over OBR appointments

The Treasury Select Committee has been given the power of veto over appoints to the Office for Budget Responsibility by Chancellor George Osborne.

In a surprise move at today’s TSC meeting, Osborne said the move would help build the credibility of the Office as an independent body.

The Chancellor will continue to initially appoint his preferred candidates and he stopped short of giving the Committee the authority to sack OBR officials while they are serving their terms.

‘The appointments will be made by the Chancellor, but subject to a confirmation hearing with the Committee [who will have] the power to veto,’ Osborne said.

He added that OBR members will also have to receive approval from the Committee again if they are re-appointed after their initial five year term, but said that he believed that allowing the Committee to sack members if they lost confidence in them risked politicizing the body and undermining its independence. 

The OBR has come under fire recently with chairman Sir Alan Budd (pictured) set to leave his post earlier than expected, prompting rumours about pressure being placed on him by the Treasury, which he later denied.