Kwarteng to block OBR's Budget verdict for weeks

The Office for Budget Responsibility's verdict on the taxslashing mini-Budget will be kept secret for nearly two months after the chancellor refused to publish it

- ROB MERRICK

Kwasi Kwarteng is defying calls, including from Conservative MPs, to reassure markets by revealing the official forecast of how his dash for growth will affect the economy.

After an unprecedented emergency Downing Street meeting yesterday, the expert watchdog said its initial findings would be on the chancellor's desk within a week. But the Treasury quickly made clear nothing would be published until Mr Kwarteng delivers a new economic statement on 23 November, despite protests that seven weeks is too long to wait.

Mr Kwarteng, writing in The Daily Telegraph today, said that his November statement would contain a "commitment to spending discipline". He also promised that the November update "will set out a credible plan to get debt falling as a share of GDP in the medium term." He added: "Not all the measures we announced last week will be universally popular. But we had to do something different. We had no other choice." The stance is in defiance of a call from the Conservative head of the Commons Treasury committee, Mel Stride, for a "reset moment" that would see the OBR forecast released in October.

As anger grows on the Tory benches, one MP said his party has already lost the next general election, while a second warned "time is running out" to show the Conservatives deserve to stay in power.