Pressure mounts on Healey as UK fiscal headroom forecast to drop to £12bn

Increased borrowing costs, caused in part by the Middle East conflict and associated spike in oil prices, are estimated to have significantly reduced the £23.6bn fiscal headroom recorded in Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) ahead of this year's Spring Forecast, according to KMPG's latest economic outlook. The report, co-authored by UK chief economist Yael Selfin and economist Moustafa Ali, suggested the conflict alone had lowered the headroom by around £9bn, while weak growth and a "likely" downgrade to the OBR's migration forecasts could knock a further £2bn off the buffer, leavi...