The UK Treasury may have contravened legal protocols by failing to disclose £9.5 billion in spending to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) during the March Tory budget, MPs have learned.

The OBR's head, Richard Hughes, stated that this omission would have significantly altered their economic forecasts, suggesting a lapse in oversight and transparency.

Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury committee, affirmed the need for legal inquiry into the issue.

The OBR, established in 2010 to ensure independent fiscal forecasting, relies on full disclosure from the Treasury, as mandated by law.

Concerns of systemic breakdown in communication were expressed, with Hughes highlighting a shift towards more rigorous scrutiny in OBR-Treasury interactions to prevent future discrepancies.

Further complicating fiscal projections, Hughes noted Labour's spending plans, affected by economic shocks like a 0.3% interest rate rise, could erase the fiscal buffer, threatening debt reduction targets.

This raises questions about the robustness of current budgetary safeguards.