End of fiddling figures as George Osborne sets Budget date

The Chancellor set a June 22 date for his emergency Budget that will set out the swingeing austerity measures needed to curb the £163billion annual deficit crisis left by Labour.

And he signalled that the first steps in trimming £6billion immediately from the bloated state sector will be announced next week.

Public sector recruitment, new computer equipment contracts and building programmes are among areas set to be slashed in the drive to save cash and reduce Britain’s spiralling debts.

Mr Osborne warned: “If we fail to tackle the deficit we inherited from the previous government, the ­consequences could be disastrous.

“If we don’t get on top of our debt, every family in Britain will be poorer and the dreams of millions of young people will be dashed.

“Mortgages will be higher, businesses will go bust and debt interest will become one of the largest items of Government spending.”

Mr Osborne yesterday appointed a new watchdog to stop ­ministers manipulating Treasury statistics.

“We need to fix the Budget to fit the figures, not fix the figures to fit the Budget,” the Chancellor said. In a series of initiatives to kick off their first full week at the Treasury, Tory Mr Osborne and his Lib Dem deputy, David Laws, announced three main initiatives:

A new Office of Budget Responsibility under economist Sir Alan Budd to provide economic forecasts independent of ministers.

An emergency statement next Monday will set out the first of a series of immediate budget cuts

All spending commitments made by Labour since New Year to be reviewed and dozens may be cancelled. Mr Osborne said: “We are finding all sorts of skeletons in ­various cupboards and all sorts of spending decisions taken at the last minute.

“By the end, the previous government was totally irresponsible and has left this country with absolutely terrible public finances.”

Turning to his decision to ­surrender control of Treasury ­forecasts, he said: “Again and again, the temptation to fiddle the figures, to nudge up a growth forecast here or reduce a borrowing number there to make the numbers add up has proved too great.

“And that is a significant part of the reason for our current problems. I believe the public should be able to trust official forecasts for the economy.” He added: “I am the first ­Chancellor to remove the temptation to fiddle the figures by giving up control over the economic and fiscal forecast.”

The Office of Budget Responsibility will be expected to make an independent assessment of the black holes in Treasury finances and forecast growth levels.

Shadow Chancellor Alistair ­Darling hit back: “Every new ­government tries blaming the last one. This just shows the old politics is alive and well with the Lib-Con coalition.”

Business leaders last night ­welcomed the moves.

John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI, said: “An ­independent authority will help inject additional credibility and transparency into the forecast and is something the CBI has been ­calling for for some time.”

Institute of Directors spokesman, Alistair Tebbit, said: “The Lib-Con coalition is right to ignore those siren voices which are still saying that early cuts would jeopardise recovery.”

But trade union leader, TUC ­general secretary Brendan Barber, warned: “With the economy so fragile and thousands still losing jobs, the Government needs to avoid rushing into a round of cuts.”