Jonathan Haskel
Economist, Imperial College professor and chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Jonathan Haskel, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, welcomed a Treasury Committee report of 23 September 2026 that backed the OBR's independence; his office's next forecast lands with the Budget on 28 October.
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Welcomed the committee's report
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Hillier's MPs seek 10-year OBR forecastBackground
Jonathan Haskel chairs the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR's website lists him as one of the three members of its Budget Responsibility Committee, which holds executive responsibility for the office's core functions, including the judgements behind its forecasts.
He came to the OBR with a record in economic policy institutions. He was an external member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, a non-executive director of the UK Statistics Authority and an external member of the Competition and Markets Authority's reporting panel. He is a professor at Imperial College Business School.
As chair he speaks for the OBR's independence, and he welcomed the Treasury Committee's support for it in September 2026. The OBR's next forecast is due with the Budget on 28 October 2026.
Haskel welcomes support for OBR independence
Haskel welcomed the Commons Treasury Committee's report of 23 September, which rejected calls to overhaul the Office for Budget Responsibility and called its critics guilty of "shooting the messenger". For Haskel, whose Budget Responsibility Committee holds executive responsibility for the forecast judgements, the report gives the office cross-party parliamentary backing as the Budget approaches.
The committee also asked ministers to consider commissioning a ten-year forecast beside the five-year one, which would lengthen the horizon of the work Haskel's committee signs off. The OBR confirmed in July that its next Economic and fiscal outlook publishes on 28 October, alongside the Budget.
