Gov't Brings Forward Medium-Term Fiscal Plan To 31 Oct

Chair of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee Mel Stride (Con, Central Devon) has confirmed that the gov't intends to bring forward its medium-term fiscal plan to 31 October, publishing a letter that he has received from Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng.

• Link to confirmatory tweet: https://twitter.com/MelJStride/status/157939632834...
• Stride: "Having pressed so hard on this I strongly welcome decision by Kwasi Kwarteng to bring forward OBR forecast MTFP to 31st Oct. If this lands well with markets then MPC meeting on 3rd Nov may result in smaller rise in int rates. Critical to millions of mortgage holders"
• Letter from Kwarteng seeks to provide an excuse of why no OBR figures were released at the time of the 'fiscal event' announcement that spooked markets in September:L "Upon my arrival in office, I received preliminary analysis from the OBR, but I have since made significant policy announcements including the Growth Plan. It is important that a forecast includes a full and final assessment of the impact of policy measures on the economy and public finances, and, as such, it would not be appropriate to publish the initial analysis that the OBR provided. The new forecast date on 31 October will allow the OBR to capture data releases, such as the recent Quarterly National Accounts and Blue Book revisions. It will allow for a full forecast process to take place to a standard that satisfies the legal requirements of the Charter for Budget Responsibility enacted by Parliament and that also provides and in-depth assessment of the economy and public finances."