Chancellor confirms date for growth plan

In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, he explained the new forecast date will allow the government’s forecaster the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) to capture data releases, such as the recent Quarterly National Accounts and Blue Book revisions.

Additionally, it will provide time for “the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan to be finalised”. Kwarteng also said, that - in the meantime - he and the prime minister met with the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee to discuss the economic and fiscal outlook, and “will continue” to work closely together throughout the forecast process and beyond. 

The Chancellor had previously said he would announce his Medium-Term Fiscal Plan - which will set out his plan for balancing the government’s finances - on 23 November. The statement is expected to explain how he intends to pay for £43bn of tax cuts as well as plans to reduce debt. 

BREAKING: Having pressed so hard on this I strongly welcome decision by @KwasiKwarteng to bring forward @OBR_UK forecast MTFP to 31st Oct. If this lands well with markets then MPC meeting on 3rd Nov may result in smaller rise in int rates. Critical to millions of mortgage holders pic.twitter.com/sgn7mB4ovf

— Mel Stride (@MelJStride)

BREAKING: Having pressed so hard on this I strongly welcome decision by @KwasiKwarteng to bring forward @OBR_UK forecast MTFP to 31st Oct. If this lands well with markets then MPC meeting on 3rd Nov may result in smaller rise in int rates. Critical to millions of mortgage holders pic.twitter.com/sgn7mB4ovf

— Mel Stride (@MelJStride) October 10, 2022

In response to the letter, the Treasury Select Committee’s chairman Mel Stride tweeted he “strongly welcomed the decision” adding that, if it lands well with the markets, then the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting on 3 November could result in a smaller rise in interest rates.