John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s OBR report on Fiscal Sustainability, said:

“Today’s OBR report on fiscal sustainability lays bare the reality of six years of Tory economic failure.

“Philip Hammond was forced to drop Osborne’s discredited fiscal targets at last year’s Autumn Statement; today the OBR now casts doubt on the ability of Hammond to make good on his new fiscal targets.

“Far from moving into surplus in the next Parliament, today’s report shows that the budget deficit is set to rise in the next parliament, from 0.7 per cent of GDP in 2021-22, to 1.8 per cent by 2025-26.

“The public finances will only be returned to health once we have an economy fit for the twenty-first century. Only Labour has a plan for a high-wage, high-skilled and high-growth economy.”