Speeches by Murphy.

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“The OBR told the Treasury Committee, on which I sit, that the narrative that the Chancellor set out on 4 November was consistent with the forecast at that time. When the OBR made that point, was it right or wrong? Are you questioning what the OBR said?”

“Since the pandemic, Governments have been trying to solve a unique participation crisis, so-called, in the UK, but your latest report suggests that it has now returned to the pre-pandemic trend. We know that ONS data in this area is not particularly reliable, so is the crisis over or was it never really there?”

“Are the underlying things that you are pointing to, and that we discussed a moment ago, unique to the UK?”

“Is there any particular policy to which you would attribute that slowdown?”

“You mentioned the pandemic and young people. Has the Bank made an assessment of what the drivers of that economic activity are?”

“I will ask questions about the labour market. Employment and unemployment are faring worse than the central projection in the MPR. Ms Lombardelli, are you concerned about the downside risks for both activity and employment?”

“Have you any observations or analysis on the movements in the gilt market since the Budget and how it has landed?”

“I echo fellow members of the Treasury Committee in commending Richard Hughes for his work and for taking responsibility for what the OBR itself acknowledged is the worst failure in its 15-year history. The shadow Chancellor failed to mention that Professor Miles stated in his testimony to the Committee yesterday that t…”

“Ms Miller, I do not know whether there is anything you want to add on the wider living standards point.”

“We had a discussion yesterday with Professor Miles from the OBR about the measure of living standards. The OBR uses real household disposable income. A key measure for the Government that they set out, in terms of their success over the course of this Parliament, is where living standards are at the end compared to the…”

“To unpick it a bit, it incorporates housing costs and imputed rents. It is a measure that incorporates housing costs and does not do it after housing costs, as others do. I think that you model it, as does the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Is that not a better reflection of people’s living standards? The projection on th…”

“Ms Curtice, you have segued nicely into my questions on living standards. Could you set out what you make of the performance on living standards in this Parliament to date compared with the previous Parliament?”

“What do you make of the measures in the Budget on the cost of living and living standards overall? Is there anything you would particularly highlight? Could you break it down a bit in terms of the next year, the next couple of years and then maybe the rest of the Parliament?”

“Was there a set of alternative measures that, given the package, so the key tax raises and measures on living standards, you would have liked to see and that you think would have delivered a better pathway on living standards within the envelope?”

“Was it the most well targeted for those in the worst deprivation? I know that it pushes the greatest number over the 60% threshold, but was it the best means of helping those who are the very most deprived?”

“Ms Curtice, was the abolition of the two-child limit the most effective way to reduce child poverty, both in terms of impact and value for money?”

“What do you make of the redistributive nature of the budget? Was it redistributive?”

“Would you like to see the OBR using some of those alternative measures and producing them in the forecast documents?”

“Maybe we could follow up on that point.”