Starmer Criticizes UK Budget Watchdog Over Welfare Assessment

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government’s budget watchdog should have taken into account the supply-side effects of welfare reforms in its outlook last month, the first time he has publicly criticized the body.

“It is significant to my mind that the ability of any policy or legislation to change behavior is not priced in,” Starmer told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, when asked about the Office for Budget Responsibility’s decision not to score the impact on the labor market of several measures announced by the government to toughen up rules for welfare claimants.