Jacob Rees-Mogg REFUSES to cave in to BBC host’s fishing trip on calls for Hammond sacking
JACOB REES-MOGG refused to play ball with BBC host Jo Coburn who was fishing for him to join calls for Philip Hammond’s sacking.
I think the Treasury has a wrong forecasting model
After initially appearing irritated by the question, Jacob Rees-Mogg then said “no, of course not” as he criticised Treasury forecasting models.
Speaking on Daily Politics, on the BBC, Coburn asked: “Do you think, on the basis of what you said though Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Treasury is just too pessimistic, as is Philip Hammond?
“Should he be sacked, do you think? Is he just not the right man for the job at the time of Brexit?”
But the Tory Brexiteer did not pander to the BBC presenter’s line of questioning and talked of the need for updated forecasts while praising the work of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
BBC
He said: “I think the Treasury has a wrong forecasting model, it uses gravity models that have been shown to fail in the past.
“The Treasury models pre-date Philip Hammond, they are longstanding models that have been consistently wrong.
“They produced a panic forecast before the referendum saying that just by virtue of a vote to leave, there would be a recession, an unemployment rise by half a million.
“The OBR works on the mandate given to it by the Treasury and the policies that the Treasury proposes it will implement.”
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Theresa May's former chief-of-staff has launched a scathing attack on Mr Hammond just a week before the Budget.
Nick Timothy, who was one of the Prime Minister's closest aides, accused the Chancellor of lacking policy ideas for overhauling the economy.
He also warned the current leadership at the Treasury risked driving more voters towards Jeremy Corbyn's hard-Left Labour party by failing to have "a burning desire to make people's lives better."
Mr Timothy, an enthusiastic Brexit supporter, was also damning scathing about Mr Hammond's track record at the Treasury.
In a newspaper article, he wrote: “In his first Budget, Hammond got it all wrong.
"Concerned that the rising number of people in self-employment was reducing tax receipts, he increased their National Insurance Contributions.
"Theresa May warned him repeatedly that he was making a mistake, but the Chancellor insisted on going ahead and the inevitable occurred.
"Conservative MPs rebelled and he dropped the policy and the tax receipts that came with it."
