Budget Choices and the Cost of Lower Productivity Forecasts

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has been widely trailing this month’s budget and the difficult decisions she’ll have to make in just under two weeks time. This is being taken as code for tax rises and a possible break in Labour’s manifesto pledge with a rise in income tax. She’s said one of the key reasons for this is that the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility or OBR, is likely to lower its UK productivity growth forecast for the coming years. So why is UK productivity a problem and what can be done to improve it?

Guests: Chris Giles, Economics Commentator, The Financial Times Helen Miller, Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies Duncan Weldon, economist and author Greg Thwaites, Research Director, Resolution Foundation.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Cordelia Hemming, Kirsteen Knight Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineers: Rod Farguhar and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon