Demob-happy IFS director tears into Rachel Reeves’s spending review

Blistering analysis by outgoing chief concludes chancellor likely to end up ‘gnat’s whisker’ away from tax risesYou can only conclude that Paul Johnson is demob-happy. The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies is off to run an Oxford college in a couple of weeks and seems determined to go out with a bang. Normally, the scourge of chancellors and all things Treasury is quite measured in what he says. Borderline wonkish in his forensic analysis of financial statements. Choosing his words carefully as he peels back the political spin to deliver his verdict on the true state of the public finances. But for his last outing we got to see the real Paul. Paul Unplugged.The IFS press conference has become something of a tradition. The place where budgets and spending reviews come to die the day after they were delivered. Where the numbers aren’t given a chance to lie. Johnson is nothing if not equal opportunities: no chancellor of either party is given a free pass. If there are discrepancies to be found, the IFS can be sure to find them. To be awarded a grade B from Paul is the sort of result a chancellor can only dream about. Continue reading...

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