[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21714549

David Cameron has become involved in a dispute with the Office for Budget Responsibility about the impact of austerity measures on economic growth.

In a speech on the economy on Thursday, the prime minister said the independent watchdog had made it "absolutely clear" that spending cuts and tax rises were not responsible for the weak economy.

But the OBR said it had been arguing for years that this was an issue.

Labour said it was an "embarrassing rebuke" for the prime minister.

Mr Cameron quoted the OBR in a major speech on the economy, in which he rejected calls for increased borrowing, insisting getting on top of the deficit was the "first essential step" for growth.

He said the OBR had made it clear that growth had been depressed by the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis, instability in the eurozone and a sharp rise in oil prices between 2010 and 2011.

The watchdog, he added, was "absolutely clear that the deficit reduction plan is not responsible, in fact, quite the opposite".

But the OBR's chairman, Robert Chote, has written to the prime minister to take issue with his comments.

"For the avoidance of doubt, I think it is important to point out that every forecast published by the OBR since the June 2010 Budget has incorporated the widely held assumption that tax increases and spending cuts reduce economic growth in the short term," he wrote.

"To summarise, we believe that fiscal consolidation measures have reduced economic growth over the past couple of years."

Cameron caught out in a lie (not the first, either) .....