These doom-mongers need new crystal balls

WAS it only four months ago when Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his funereal Budget, weighed down by gloomy forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility? How much brighter the outlook appears today.

Back in November, the OBR assured us poor productivity would drag down growth and hit the public finances. Yet official figures now show output per hour surging ahead, with the best two quarters since the financial crisis.

At the same time, manufacturing output is up for an unprecedented ninth month in succession. To put the icing on the cake, the Saudis’ preliminary order for 48 Typhoon jets should secure thousands of jobs.

So rosy is the picture that some say the current account budget finally looks on track to be back in surplus.

But a word of caution. Never forget that this country is some £2trillion in debt, with the public finances only now approaching the break- even point George Osborne promised we’d reach three years ago. So Mr Hammond must emphatically take the latest good news as his cue for a spending splurge.

As for those gloom-laden forecasters, is it too much to hope they will concentrate on getting their short-term predictions right – and stop pretending they can see the consequences of Brexit 15 years hence?