Osborne: Red Book a work of fiction
Shadow chancellor says Budget assumptions misleading
George Osborne
Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne has said the Red Book, the document
which contains all the economic assumptions for the UK Budget, is not to be
trusted.
In an interview for with the
Financial
Times today, Osborne said: “The Red Book is largely a work of fiction.
” The FT reports the would-be chancellor saying the book contains over
optimistic growth forecasts and hidden liabilities arising from the pensions and
the public finance initative.
Earlier this year Accountancy Age reported a study which claimed
there could be up to
£32bn
of PFI liabilities off the government’s balance sheet.
The interview also revealed Osborne at odds with Bank of Governor Mervyn King
who has been reported saying that whoever wins the election will have to make
such swingeing cuts that they could end up out of power for a generation.
Osborne is quoted saying “it will be tough” but he was in public life to make
things better for people.
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