Budget Responsibility Bill introduced into Parliament

On July 18, 2024, the Budget Responsibility Bill 2024-25 had its first reading in the House of Commons. Its second reading is scheduled for July 30, 2024. 

Explanatory notes to the Bill explain that it will amend the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 to ensure that if a government minister proposes to make a fiscal announcement to the House of Commons in respect of a fiscally significant measure (or two or more measures, which in any combination are fiscally significant), the Office for Budget Responsibility must be requested by HM Treasury to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast to be published alongside it. Effectively, the fiscal lock will apply to tax and spending commitments exceeding £30 billion.  

The Bill excludes the requirement to request and prepare a forecast if the fiscal announcement is intended to be temporary and is in response to an emergency. Draft text confirms that a measure is temporary if it is intended to end within two years.