Rachel Reeves Nominates Economist David Miles for Second Term on UK’s Fiscal Watchdog Committee

The Chancellor has put forward Professor David Miles CBE for reappointment to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Budget Responsibility Committee — the body that produces the official economic forecasts underpinning every UK Budget.

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The Announcement

If you’ve ever wondered who sits behind the numbers in a Budget — the forecasts for growth, borrowing, inflation — then the Office for Budget Responsibility is your answer. And the people who sign off those forecasts are the three members of its Budget Responsibility Committee. This week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has nominated one of them, Professor David Miles CBE, for a second and final term.

The nomination was posted by the OBR’s official account, confirming that the reappointment is subject to approval by the House of Commons Treasury Committee — a parliamentary safeguard built into the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011. That consent requirement exists precisely to protect the OBR’s independence from government pressure.

Who Is David Miles?

Miles is no stranger to high-stakes economic roles. He joined the Budget Responsibility Committee in January 2022 and his current term runs until 1 January 2027. The proposed second term would begin the very next day, on 2 January 2027 — and under the terms of the nomination, it would be his last.

His CV is considerable. Before the OBR, he served on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from May 2009 to September 2015 — the group that sets UK interest rates. He was Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley between 2004 and 2009, led a government review of the mortgage market in 2004, and completed a review for HM Treasury on reference prices of UK government bonds in 2018. He was awarded a CBE in January 2016 for services to economics and public policy. He currently holds a professorship in Financial Economics at Imperial College Business School in London.

That’s a lot of economic firepower in one appointment.

How the Process Works

Reappointments to the Budget Responsibility Committee aren’t automatic. Each case is assessed on its own merits under the Governance Code for Public Appointments — the framework designed to keep public roles filled on the basis of merit rather than favour. The Treasury Committee must give its consent before any appointment is confirmed, giving Parliament a meaningful role in the process.

Some critics have raised broader questions about whether the OBR’s leadership reflects a wide enough range of economic perspectives, and whether the appointments process is sufficiently transparent. But the formal structure — with its parliamentary oversight — is designed to prevent any single government from stacking the committee with sympathetic voices.

Why Continuity Matters Here

The OBR’s forecasts aren’t abstract documents. They feed directly into decisions about public spending, taxation and borrowing across every part of the country — including here in Kent.

Kent County Council, NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, and local business groups all use national economic forecasts as a planning baseline. When the OBR publishes its Economic and Fiscal Outlook, it shapes the assumptions those organisations use for their own medium-term budgets. Stability in who produces those forecasts matters — abrupt changes in committee membership can introduce uncertainty into projections that local bodies rely on.

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Key Takeaways

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves has nominated Professor David Miles CBE for a second and final term on the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee, subject to House of Commons Treasury Committee approval
• Miles has served on the committee since January 2022; his current term ends 1 January 2027, with the proposed new term beginning the following day
• The reappointment follows the Governance Code for Public Appointments and requires parliamentary consent under the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011

What This Means for Kent Residents

The OBR’s forecasts shape the national spending decisions that flow down to local services — from the roads budget that affects the M20 and A2 corridors, to the funding settlements that determine what Kent County Council can spend on social care and schools. Income tax thresholds, benefits uprating and public sector pay — all things that directly affect household finances in Maidstone, Canterbury, Folkestone and beyond — are set against the backdrop of OBR projections. For Kent residents and businesses planning ahead, continuity in the committee that produces those forecasts offers a degree of predictability; local organisations can have greater confidence that the economic assumptions underpinning their own budgets won’t shift sharply because of personnel changes at the top of the UK’s fiscal watchdog. The nomination still needs Treasury Committee approval, so this isn’t a done deal yet — but the direction of travel is clear.