The head of the Budget's watchdog tonight warned "the whole system is under stress" - while the Chancellor played down the risk of an economic crisis.
Richard Hughes, chief of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said "a big rise in interest rates... which has happened worldwide, is just putting the whole system under stress".
Speaking at a Policy Exchange event, he said: "We see it as a stress on the public finances, but it's also happening out there in the wider world, in households and in companies.
