Bearing in mind the damage done only a year ago by Liz Truss, these two paragraphs from Paul Johnson spell out the risks, short and long term ,of what the Tories have now done. – Owl

 Paul Johnson, Director of the IFS ifs.org.uk:

Two paragraphs from his response to the Autumn Statement 2023 

Announcing immediate tax cuts in response to highly uncertain changes in assumptions about the UK’s medium-term economic prospects does not feel like a recipe for good management of the public finances, especially when some extra “space” is opened up by announcing another year of very low increases in public service spending, and cuts in investment spending, which may prove hard to deliver.

This may turn out to be risky even in the short run. His so called “headroom” against a rather loose fiscal target is minuscule and the OBR could easily take it away in the Spring Budget with some very small changes to forecasts. What will he do then? Certainly, whoever is Chancellor after the next general election is going to have very little room for manoeuvre.