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Robert Chote to head Office for Budget Responsibility

Chancellor George Osborne names Institute for Fiscal Studies director to take helm at independent budgetary watchdog

Robert Chote, the head of Britain's leading thinktank on tax and spending, was today named by George Osborne to head his independent budgetary watchdog.

The influential director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies will be the first permanent head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, set up by the chancellor to scrutinise the state of the economy and public finances.

Chote, 42, will replace the interim head of the OBR, Sir Alan Budd, provided his appointment is confirmed by backbench MPs on the Commons Treasury committee.

"Robert Chote's experience and suitability to become the first chair of the permanent OBR is beyond doubt," Osborne said today in a letter to the committee's chairman, Andrew Tyrie.

"As director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, he has been one of the most credible independent voices on the public finances, taxation and public spending. I hope that the Treasury select committee will approve this appointment so that he can lead the OBR in its important work over the next five years."

The chancellor said he expected Chote to have a role in scrutinising the comprehensive spending review on 20 October, and that the OBR would come up with updated economic forecasts by the end of the year.

Chote, who was educated at Cambridge and worked for the Independent newspaper and the International Monetary Fund before joining the IFS in 2002, has been a thorn in the side of both the previous Labour government and the new coalition administration. Last month, the Treasury strongly disputed the IFS's assessment of Osborne's emergency budget as "clearly regressive".

Chote said today: "I am delighted to have been nominated by the chancellor as the next chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility and look forward to meeting with the Treasury select committee.

"The creation of the OBR is a great opportunity to ensure that the tax and spending decisions of this and future governments are informed by demonstrably rigorous and independent analysis of the outlook for the public finances and the economy.

"If my appointment is confirmed, I will ensure that the OBR draws on the fullest possible range of information and expertise, from within government and without, and that we will make and present our judgements without fear or favour."

The OBR was established after the coalition came to power in May in order to take the forecasting of economic growth and government borrowing figures out of the hands of politicians.

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