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cathhaddon.bsky.social
Cath Haddon
@cathhaddon.bsky.social
13K followers 410 following 390 posts
Programme Director for IFG Academy @instituteforgov.bsky.social

+ history, Whitehall geekiness and constitutional agony aunt Subscribe to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/3dxiJ5J
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cathhaddon.bsky.social
Two events coming up this week.

Tomorrow, @jimreedbbc.bsky.social joins our panel discussing the lessons coming out of the covid inquiry module 2 and what it says about how well inquiries help govt learn lessons
instituteforgovernment.org.uk Institute for Government @instituteforgovernment.org.uk · 3d
Next week! @jimreedbbc.bsky.social is joining us at the IfG to discuss the lessons from the second Covid Inquiry report and what it means for how future governments approach crisis management.

@rebeccamckee.bsky.social @timdurrant.bsky.social

🎟️
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...
December 1, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
EVENT | How can changes to NHS structures help deliver the 10 Year Health Plan?

How can the government ensure that the new national structure works effectively?
@novartis.bsky.social @njdavies.bsky.social

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/nhs-st...
November 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Devolving growth: What are the challenges and opportunities for new strategic authorities?

Join us for our event on how new strategic authorities can develop effective local economic strategies
@rebeccamckee.bsky.social @akashpaun.bsky.social

🎟️
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/devolv...
November 28, 2025 at 9:54 AM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
And that’s a wrap from our brilliant budget live-blog team.

Many thanks to @gemmatetlow.bsky.social @danhaile.bsky.social @drbenpaxton.bsky.social
@philipnye.bsky.social
@martha-ford.bsky.social
@jillongovt.bsky.social @gilesyb.bsky.social

and everyone else who contributed.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
drbenpaxton.bsky.social
Once again, Reeves committed to one fiscal event a year. That would be great. But when there are two OBR forecasts, the temptation is to do further fiscal tinkering each time. The test will be whether she can hold her nerve come the spring
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves announces tax and spend measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
What are the funding implications of the budget for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

@meganisaac.bsky.social explores on our autumn budget live blog www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
A bar chart from the Institute for Government showing the Barnett consequentials for devolved nations announced in the budget 2025
November 27, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
rebeccamckee.bsky.social
Very excited for this event next week!

Last week the Covid Inquiry published its report on political decision making and governance - a big one for government - we'll be taking a look at what we learned from the inquiry and what this all means for government, policymakers & future public inquiries
November 27, 2025 at 11:54 AM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
Who were the winners and losers of Reeves’s budget?

How will her measures affect growth?

Has the chancellor finally set a coherent tax strategy?

Feat. @jillongovt.bsky.social @gilesyb.bsky.social @danhaile.bsky.social and @drhannahwhite.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...
Autumn budget 2025: What is Rachel Reeves’ plan for the economy?
Podcast Episode · Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government · 26/11/2025 · 57m
podcasts.apple.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
"Either damaging cuts to unprotected services or fictitious spending numbers"

Read @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social verdict on today's budget and what it means for public services on our live blog www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
"The government’s spending plans beyond the end of this spending review period either imply damaging cuts to unprotected public services like local government and the criminal justice system or – more likely – represent a return to the previous government’s tendency to pencil in fictitious spending numbers to hit its fiscal target." A quote from Stuart Hoddinott, IfG Associate Director
November 26, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Starting in 20 minutes!🚨 Join us live to hear our analysis of Rachel Reeves' plan for the economy.

Submit your questions for our panel www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/autumn...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk Institute for Government @instituteforgovernment.org.uk · 5d
Sign up for our webinar at 4pm, where a panel of IfG experts will be bringing you analysis of what we've learnt on the government's fiscal rules, changes to the productivity forecasts, the two-child benefit limit, council tax and more.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/autumn...
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
'Little overall sense of what the chancellor wants to achieve with the tax system' @gemmatetlow.bsky.social

Read the latest comments from our IfG experts on the Chancellor's budget before our WEBINAR at 4pm!

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves announce tax and spend measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
"Rachel Reeves has squandered the opportunity at this budget to set out a clear vision for the tax system"

We recently set out how Reeves could approach tax reform to drive growth www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

See our live blog www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
"Rachel Reeves has squandered the opportunity at this Budget to set out a clear vision for the tax system, which could have helped boost growth and reduced uncertainty about where she might look next if further tax rises are needed." A quote from Dr Gemma Tetlow, IfG Chief Economist
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Sign up for our webinar at 4pm, where a panel of IfG experts will be bringing you analysis of what we've learnt on the government's fiscal rules, changes to the productivity forecasts, the two-child benefit limit, council tax and more.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/autumn...
November 26, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
gemmatetlow.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
gemmatetlow.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 2:13 PM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
Somewhere in the OBR *someone else* is currently hovering their finger over the 'publish' button, probably accompanied by multiple colleagues....
November 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
Pretty confident we will also be talking about that OBR leak and whether there is a better way of doing this whole run up to budget thing.....
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
aliceolilly.bsky.social
The Budget (whether details are published when expected or, erm, somewhat early) is obviously a moment of huge political theatre but it is ALSO the start of a parliamentary process, which we touch on on the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk liveblog
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves prepares to announce tax measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Should we have only one OBR fiscal forecast a year?

Read our latest budget live blog post from @gemmatetlow.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves prepares to announce tax measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
timdurrant.bsky.social
I would say this, but the IfG's budget live blog is already great, even before we get to the main event - where else do you get this kind of content?
An IfG live blog post from Jill Rutter, titled "Keep the chancellor away from the Treasury" What will Rachel Reeves and her officials be doing in the last few hours before the budget? In earlier eras, chancellors could change their minds down to the wire (though the Red Book would be printed over the weekend) and rewrite their speech. That could mean laborious retypes and recollations. That led to an instruction in the Treasury’s own budget day manual to “Keep the chancellor away from the Treasury” after the budget had been presented to the cabinet in the morning. Chancellors would be dispatched to St James’s Park to be photographed feeding the ducks, while Treasury officials frantically compiled printed copies of the budget speech. No indication yet that this is the plan for this morning! But if you see Rachel Reeves heading into the park, you know that another bit of Treasury orthodoxy still rules.
November 26, 2025 at 10:22 AM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
pick-and-mix, sugar tax, overly sweet dairy drinks.... and now lollipops...

Every budget seems to have a different food related theme and this one seems to have found its own contribution

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
IfG senior fellow Jill Rutter is a former Treasury civil servant. On the BBC podcast The Tax Conundrum she describes how the Treasury would look for positive stories to sweeten the bitter pill of tax rises: "When I was in my very early days at the Treasury, and chancellors were making some quite unpleasant decisions in budgets, we used to spend the last few weeks ahead of the budget in what was called a lollipop hunt. The idea was that the chancellor wanted to leaven the bad news with some lollipops that were tweaks to the tax system or maybe a bit of money for something that you could point to and you would get… [something like] "the association of duck farmers welcome the chancellor’s final recognition that they need this relief". The problem is that after you've brought in that relief, you've got a built-in lobby group that will squeal the moment you decide you need to take it away because either it’s costing more than you thought or it’s not having the effects you wanted."
November 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
It's budget day – so what have you missed?

@jillongovt.bsky.social asks Ed Balls and George Osborne what they would do in the budget

OBR forecasts

Ministers Reflect on the Treasury

John Swinney on what Reeves should do

Follow the live blog 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves prepares to announce tax measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
The OBR will today release its latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

But how does the OBR produce its forecasts? What role do the forecasts play? And what data and assumptions go into them?

Here's what you need to know 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/of...
How does the Office for Budget Responsibility produce economic and fiscal forecasts? | Institute for Government
Economic and fiscal forecasts are a critical part of the government budget process. But what data and assumptions go into them?
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 9:38 AM
cathhaddon.bsky.social
Lots more on @instituteforgovernment.org.uk budget live blog today

▪️Our OBR forecasts explainer
▪️former ministers on treasury

And the main event. We’ll have instant reaction, our first analysis in a webinar at 4pm and then deep analysis tomorrow.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...
LIVE BLOG | Autumn budget 2025: Rachel Reeves prepares to announce tax measures | Institute for Government
IfG experts analyse Reeves' budget and explore what the chancellor's plans for the economy, tax and spending mean.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Cath Haddon
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
The biggest change in the OBR's economic forecast tomorrow is expected to be a lower forecast for productivity growth.

But how does the OBR produce its forecasts? @danhaile.bsky.social explains www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/of...
How does the Office for Budget Responsibility produce economic and fiscal forecasts? | Institute for Government
Economic and fiscal forecasts are a critical part of the government budget process. But what data and assumptions go into them?
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM