New economic figures expected to strike blow to government ahead of election

Sajid Javid under fire for refusing to release forecasts on slowing economy - now independent office for budget responsibility will go ahead anyway

Official figures expected to lay bare the deteriorating state of the economy will be published next week, in a blow to the government.

Sajid Javid, the chancellor, was facing growing criticism for refusing to release the normal autumn forecasts, after cancelling his Budget announced for 6 November.

But the independent office for budget responsibility (OBR) has now said it will go ahead anyway – “given the importance” of the economy to the looming general election debate.

Robert Chote, the OBR’s chairman, said publication would not “contravene the restrictions based upon us”, adding: “We therefore intend to do so on 7 November.”

The update is unlikely to make happy reading for the government, with the economy stumbling because of the Brexit crisis and borrowing rising sharply.

One think-tank has predicted the deficit target will be overshot by £16bn this year, because of the slowdown and big spending pledges made by Mr Javid last month.

The £27bn of spending “headroom” set aside by the previous chancellor, Philip Hammond, has evaporated and turned into a hefty deficit, the independent Resolution Foundation has forecast.

The Treasury will be left with little option but to break its rule that caps the annual shortfall in spending at 2 per cent of GDP, it concluded.

However, the fiscal watchdog said it would not have enough details on the Boris Johnson's new Brexit deal to assess its impact on the economy.

One report by academics warned it amounted to a hard Brexit, by severing close economic ties with the EU, knocking up to £50bn off the economy and leaving everyone in the UK £2,000 worse off.

Mr Javid pulled the Budget last week, one day after insisting it would go ahead on 6 November – triggering accusations that he is merely No 10’s puppet.

Changes to the treatment of government liabilities, including student loans, many of which are unlikely to be repaid, will add a further £19bn to the deficit, the Foundation concluded.

Extra spending commitments on hospitals, police and schools added another £13bn, its report said, increasing the shortfall between income and expenditure since March to £43bn.

Without tax increases or a retreat on spending pledges, the deficit next year was likely to be nearer 3 per cent and possibly higher should Brexit knock GDP growth,

The chancellor is also facing fresh pressure to set out his economic direction to parliament, following the pulling of the annual Budget and the likelihood of an election.

Mel Stride, the new Treasury committee chairman, and a Treasury minister until recently, urged Mr Javid to give evidence to it

“It’s been over six months since the previous chancellor’s final evidence session with the Treasury committee in April,” Mr Stride wrote in a letter.

“The current chancellor has been in office for over three months, and we would hope that he would agree to appear before us sooner rather than later.”