IFS kindly translates Osborne-speak into English

The Institute for Fiscal Studies gave its Post-Budget Briefing yesterday at the Building Centre in London to a packed audience of 400.

The main reason for its popularity? For translating the Budget into English. Among the terms decoded yesterday was the Chancellor’s phrase “exceptional inter-period flexibility”. According to the IFS, this is Osbornese for massaging this year’s public spending figures by pushing a whole lot of spending into next year instead. The briefing said it “did not think this was a very productive use of civil servants’ time”.